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Atyrau Oblast
West Kazakhstan Oblast
Jambyl Oblast
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Mangystau Oblast
Turkestan Oblast
Pavlodar Oblast
North Kazakhstan Oblast
East Kazakhstan Oblast
Shymkent
Baikonur Cosmodrome
Semipalatinsk Test Site
Ecological Policy
Full text of this report
Home
About this report
Topics
-- Air
-- Water
-- Land
-- Biodiversity
-- Agriculture
-- Transportation
-- Energy
-- Climate Change
-- Waste
The Regions (oblasts)
-- Nur-Sultan
-- Almaty
-- Akmola Oblast
-- Aktobe Oblast
-- Almaty Oblast
-- Atyrau Oblast
-- West Kazakhstan Oblast
-- Jambyl Oblast
-- Karaganda Oblast
-- Kostanay Oblast
-- Kyzylorda Oblast
-- Mangystau Oblast
-- Turkestan Oblast
-- Pavlodar Oblast
-- North Kazakhstan Oblast
-- East Kazakhstan Oblast
-- Shymkent
-- Baikonur Cosmodrome
-- Semipalatinsk Test Site
Ecological Policy
Full text of this report
Section navigation
The combination of economic and population growth have
resulted in an increase in waste materials generated in
Kazakhstan. Over the past three years, the level of generated
waste has increased by 7.7%. One significant phenomenon is
the creation of so-called “spontaneous landfills”, more than
9,000 in 2019; overall, only 18% of the landfills in the country
are licensed. Despite the challenges encountered in the waste
management sphere there are also positive indicators: recycling
is increasing with each year, and by 2050 it is projected that this
sector will grow by 50%.
W
aste
Hazardous waste is separated into 3 levels: green (the least hazardous
waste), amber and red (the most hazardous waste).
By 2030, plans foresee the share
of waste processing increasing to
40%, and by 2050 to 50%. To this
end, the regulatory framework for
solid domestic waste processing
has been updated to introduce
concepts including "separate
municipal waste collection" and
"secondary raw materials", with
defined parameters as well as
manufacturer regulations -
Extended Producer Responsibility
(EPR).
Thanks to the introduction of EPR,
enterprises for the disposal of
used antifreeze, oils, batteries and
worn tires have appeared, and
waste management infrastructure
has been established.
In 2019, more than 14% of household waste was recycled, four times more than in 2018. In total, there are 150 enterprises in the country that sort
and process waste. Separate waste collection has been introduced in 51 settlements.
Volume of generated waste - 2017-2019 (million tons)
2017
400
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
year
0,16
2018
2019
Solid
household
waste
Hazardous
waste
Non-hazardous
waste
Radioactive
waste
0,13
0,15
4,8
4,3
4,7
127
150
181
278
296
336
Volume of generated non-hazardous waste by type - 2018–2019
Packaging materials (thousand tons)
Wastepaper (thousand tons)
Plastic waste (thousands of tons)
Waste electrical equipment (thousand tons)
Bulk waste material (thousand tons)
Construction waste (thousand tons)
Out-of-service vehicles (pieces)
Other waste (millions of tons)
Total (million tons)
2018
2019
37
211
13
4
3,8
690
194
294,4
295,5
83
228
69
1,3
74
486
135
334,5
335,5
In 2018-2019, the greatest amounts of red level waste were produced in the East Kazakhstan and Karaganda oblasts. The highest levels of amber-level waste were found
in the Pavlodar oblast, and green-level waste in the Kostanay oblast.
Volume - hazardous waste generated by hazard level
- 2017–2019
thousand tons
,
Aktobe Oblast
Alga
In 2014-2015, waste studies were
conducted and the degree of environmental
impact determined. In 2016, engineering
and geological surveys were carried out, a
master plan for sludge storage facilities was
developed and mapped and polluted
territories requiring cleanup were surveyed.
In 2017, design and cost estimates for
waste disposal were developed.
Karaganda Oblast
Currently, the waste is stored in two
warehouses at Balkhash-9, a
decommissioned military facility. The
warehouses are under 24-hour security.
Recycling of waste of this type is not
currently possible in Kazakhstan, which
lacks the appropriate facility. Disposal is
possible only in designated plants in
Europe.
In 2017, an environmental impact study
was completed. Container integrity was
checked. Samples were taken of air, soil,
flooring, water, sedimentation and insulating
fluids revealing PCB traces in all samples.
Daryal-U
Radar Station
183 containers holding 5946 condensers; 3
containers holding PCB waste.
A 2018 court decision recognized the waste
as ownerless and assigned it to State
control.
Chemical and industrial waste from sludge
storage tanks.
Kostanay Oblast
Zhasyl Damu, JSC conducted an
environmental impact study, assessed the
waste material value, and drew up its
hazardous waste passport.
Zhitikara District
,
Torgai-Ayan,
LLP industrial zone
3-ton capacity container holding pesticides
A 2012
court decision recognized the
pesticides as ownerless; in 2013 they were
transferred to State control.
Zhasyl Damu, JSC conducted an
environmental impact study, assessed the
waste material value, and drew up its
hazardous waste passport.
Ecosphere+K, LLP
and Kostanay Oblast
Dept. of Emergency
Measures industrial zones
24,358 grams of mercury
Transferred to State control and stored on
the territory of Ecosphere+K, LLP.
Chemical analysis revealed petroleum
product residue excess at the site. Further
laboratory analysis is required. A budget
application for an environmental impact
study and value assessment for 2019-2021
has been assembled.
Disused ZHBI-1,
JSC plant
on Toporkova Street, Rudny.
Oily waste.
A 2017 court decision assigned the waste
to State control.
Mangystau Oblast
The Koshkar-Ata tailings pond Reclamation
project was drawn up and approved. The
project is comprised of the following:
-
wastewater disposal from the affected
area;
construction of service roads;
-
-
reclamation of affected land.
Koshkar-Ata
tailings pond
Radioactive and toxic waste
A 2015 court decision assigned the waste
to State control.
A hazardous waste study has been
completed, waste hazard assigned, and
hazardous waste passports issued in
compliance with legislation.
KazAzot LLP,
disused sulfuric
acid industrial facility.
Pyrite - 96 853 tons,
sulfur - 4939 tons.
The waste material was discovered during
an inspection of the KazAzot LLP territory
by the Mangystau Oblast Department of
Ecology. In 2015, it was transferred to state
ownership.
Funding is required for laboratory research,
environmental impact studies and value
assessment.
Territories of
AZPM LLP
Chemical waste, waste materials, reagents
and raw materials.
A 2018 court decision assigned the waste
to State control.
Funds have been solicited for an
environmental impact study and valuation
of the waste materials.
Leninsky,
Pavlodar oblast.
Pesticides
A 2016 court decision recognized the
pesticides as ownerless and assigned them
to State control.
Pavlodar Oblast
A study of the site revealed organic
processes affecting the waste resulting in a
negative impact on the local environment –
air, soil, water and public health.
Atbasar
Phosphogypsum waste mixed in
5000 tons of unusable
with the soil.
A 2017 court decision assigned the waste
to State control.
Akmola Oblast
An environmental impact study and
assessment of the waste site for 2019-2021
was submitted to the State but was
unsupported by the Ministry of Finance.
Four separate plots on
discontinued military base oil
storage facility, located in
the Southern Industrial
Zone of the
city of Derzhavinsk
in the Zharkain District.
Soils saturated with 22 tons of oil and fuel
oil.
A 2017 court decision assigned the waste
to State control.
Abandoned hazardous waste, undisposed / unburied, etc.
Abandoned hazardous waste, disposed / buried, etc.
In 2018, the waste was buried in a
specialized storage facility at the National
Nuclear Center in the Almaty Oblast.
Dosimetric radiation monitoring was carried
out throughout the removal process.
Kazchermetavtomatika
JSC, radioisotope storage
Source of ionizing radiation - cesium-137.
A 2015 court decision assigned the waste
to State control.
In 2015, an environmental impact study
was conducted and certified of the waste
materials and site. In 2018, hazardous
wastes from the territory of TEMK JSC were
removed and destroyed.
Temirtau, TEMK,
JSC industrial territory
A 2014 court decision assigned the waste
to State control.
A project - "Elimination of pollution resulting
from the destruction of agricultural chemical
warehouses in the village of Toguzak in the
Karabalyk district of the Kostanay Oblast" -
was developed in 2014; funding for the
project was allocated in 2015. In 2018,
pesticides and soil contaminated with
agrochemical residues were cleaned up;
derelict storage facilities dismantled; four
hectares of land reclaimed. Waste
chemicals were transported to a landfill and
disposed of in adherence with
environmental and sanitation regulations.
Toguzak
Pesticides: 230 tons of agrochemical
residues; 320 tons soil contaminated with
pesticides.
A 2018 court decision assigned the waste
to State control.
An open tender for the sale of the waste
was held, resulting in a contract between
Zhasyl Damu, JSC and Ecofoir, LLP, and
paying 85 M Tenge to the State budget.
MU-3 territory, oil refinery and the
decommissioned Alybsenoman
Technical Water Intake Center
304,136 tons of oil sludge.
A 2015 court decision assigned the waste
to State control.
By the close of 2019,
more than
million tons
of household waste had
accumulated in
licensed landfills.
40
Generation of medical waste
- 2018–2019
In 2018 and 2019, of the aggregate of medical waste,
Class A waste had the largest generated volume. Prior to
2019, Class A waste volume was calculated in tons;
beginning in 2019, the unit of measurement for this
category was changed to cubic meters to facilitate
calculation.
Class E –
radioactive waste
Class A –
non-hazardous waste: wastes
that do not possess hazardous properties
Class B –
epidemiologically hazardous
waste: infectious or potentially infectious
waste
C
lass C –
highly epidemiologically
dangerous waste
Class D –
to
xic hazardous waste
Number of waste collection containers, recycling points and specialized equipment appearing alongside EPR
With expanded manufacturer regulation comes manufacturer subsidies for the collection, transportation and processing of recyclables. In 2016-2018, total subsidies of 7 billion
Tenge were allotted to more than 50 participating enterprises.
Regional administrators have worked out 5-year sector
development programs for 2016-2020. Program
implementation metrics track the following: percentages of
household and industrial waste sorted, percentage of
landfills that comply with environmental and sanitation
regulations, percentage of population with access to waste
collection services.
Registered landfills by region - 2018–2019
In 2019, more than 89 million tons of non-hazardous
waste were recycled, reused or incinerated; in 2018, 73
million tons.
To reduce waste accumulation, the Ministry of Ecology, Geology and Natural
Resources plans to build waste incineration plants in Nur-Sultan, Almaty, Shymkent,
Atyrau, Taraz and Aktobe. Planned outcomes include the reduction of landfill loads
and energy production.
red
amber
green
2017
2018
2019
1,7
2,1
2
4 109
4 129
4 165
122 764
145 831
176 339
Waste class / year
Class A
Class
B
Class
C
Class
D
Class
E
Equipment
Solid
Liquid
2018
30 920
t
15 779
t
559
t
114 465
pcs
10 480
kg
2 606
litres
57
t
2019
112 280
t
11 300
t
24 085
pcs
5774
kg
9,2
litres
400
t
Containers for the
collection of solid
domestic waste
Containers for the
collection of electronic
and mercury waste
Mesh containers for
plastic waste. Bins and
containers for separate
waste collection and
special equipment
Collection Points for
electronic waste
and recyclables
Region
Year
Region / Site Type
Solid waste
landfills
Hazardous waste
landfills
Non-hazardous
waste landfills
Solid waste
landfills
Hazardous waste
landfills
Non-hazardous
waste landfills
Akmola Oblast
Aktobe Oblast
Almaty Oblast
Atyrau Oblast
West Kazakhstan Oblast
Jambyl Oblast
Karaganda Oblast
Kostanay Oblast
Kyzylorda Oblast
Mangystau Oblast
Pavlodar Oblast
North-Kazakhstan Oblast
Turkestan Oblast
East Kazakhstan Oblast
Nur-Sultan
Almaty
Shymkent
0
321
460
0
1084
0
1967
0
5245
700
415
636
0
415
6276
0
0
199
133
195
40
54
111
98
150
874
0
9
79
0
9
447
100
2049
0
401
478
120
435
347
0
0
220
0
0
0
0
0
139
200
270
10
0
51
0
0
1
26
1
12
10
3
3
0
3
23
15
0
Availability of waste collection and removal
services by region - 2019
Region
Akmola Oblast
Aktobe Oblast
Almaty Oblast
Atyrau Oblast
West Kazakhstan Oblast
Jambyl Oblast
Karaganda Oblast
Kostanay Oblast
Kyzylorda Oblast
Mangystau Oblast
Pavlodar Oblast
North-Kazakhstan Oblast
Turkestan Oblast
East Kazakhstan Oblast
Nur-Sultan
Almaty
Shymkent
Regional Coverage
45
74
79
44
75
95
74
77
66
85
85
57
91
70
100
100
95
2018
2019
Akmola Oblast
Aktobe Oblast
Almaty Oblast
Atyrau Oblast
West Kazakhstan Oblast
Jambyl Oblast
Karaganda Oblast
Kostanay Oblast
Kyzylorda Oblast
Mangystau Oblast
Pavlodar Oblast
North-Kazakhstan Oblast
Turkestan Oblast
East Kazakhstan Oblast
Nur-Sultan
Almaty
Shymkent
104
82
289
86
277
191
133
309
149
15
167
341
173
149
1
0
2
13
19
1
19
3
7
9
2
9
33
9
1
3
15
0
0
6
28
9
31
8
2
31
50
6
1
8
30
1
22
30
2
4
5
98
79
287
84
262
214
133
283
161
13
177
337
194
151
1
0
1
14
21
2
17
4
3
7
2
10
31
8
0
4
7
2
0
7
31
13
3
5
0
27
51
8
2
10
20
1
32
28
3
4
4
Waste received for sorting, disposal and storage
- 2018-2019
2018
203
44 299 292
3 423 861
622 156
164 130
427 060
2 374 645
Numbers of organizations engaged
in waste sorting, disposal, and deposit.
Accumulated buried waste
at the start of the year, tons
Volume of incoming waste, tons
Of incoming
waste
volume
Sorted, tons
Aggregate
Sent for
recycling
Disposed, tons
Buried, tons
2019
2014
40 779 877
3 860 881
1 041 094
142 401
248 142
2 521 066
Year
Since 2016, prohibitions have been in place at landfills for the
disposal of mercury-containing lamps and devices, scrap metal,
waste oils and liquids, batteries and electronic waste; since 2019,
expanded prohibitions include the disposal of plastic, packaging,
cardboard, glass, and wastepaper. Starting in 2021, restrictions are
planned to include the disposal of construction and food waste.
Presently, only 17.6% of landfills and junk yards operating in the
country are licensed and registered. The Ministry of Ecology has
teamed with KGS Space Technologies, JSC to conduct satellite
imaging of waste disposal sites throughout the country. In 2019,
9229 illegal landfills were identified, of which 28% were liquidated;
in 2018 - 14% were shut down.
In 2018, Akimats (regional councils) approved additional
measures for up-to-date methods of disposal and processing of
solid household waste:
– development of waste management programs;
– revision of existing fees;
– introduction of designated collection containers, installation of
sorting complexes;
– raising popular awareness of the problem of household waste;
– establishing State-Investment cooperative efforts to promote
broader sector investment.
– development of household waste management infrastructure;
DATA ON HOUSEHOLD-FREE WASTE
Waste disposal limits category I* enterprises -
2018-2019 (thousand tons)
In 2018-2019, the KGS Space Technologies, JSC conducted satellite imagery monitoring of all major regional and national urban centers and territories to identify
spontaneous (unregistered) landfills and junkyards.
In 2018, OSCE Kazakhstan implemented the "Development of an Industrial Waste Management Strategy in Kazakhstan" Project in cooperation with the
Kazakhstan Waste Management Association - KazWaste.
Landfills and spontaneous landfills
Identified via satellite monitoring
- 2019
Satellite imagery
accuracy –
91%
600 000
500 000
400 000
300 000
200 000
100 000
50 000
25 000
0
Region
2018
2019
Akmola Oblast
Aktobe Oblast
Atyrau Oblast
Almaty Oblast
EKO
Jambyl Oblast
WKO
Karaganda Oblast
Kyzylorda Oblast
Kostanay Oblast
Mangystau Oblast
Pavlodar Oblast
NKO
Nur-Sultan
Almaty
Turkestan Oblast
Shymkent
Total:
666
483 458
1 775 701
1 345 745
thousand tons
600 000
500 000
400 000
300 000
200 000
100 000
50 000
25 000
0
thousand tons
171 764
71 352
2 480
155 022
49 748
226
1 467
560 536
640
255 141
15 633
2 009
2 842
1 168
1 549
186 413,6
77 469,2
542,5
2 000
167 093,8
54 681,2
234,4
344 499,7
1 305,4
536 876,1
893,8
273 747,1
17 109
2 320,7
2 691
30 671
733,9