In Uzbekistan, 66 public-private partnership projects for sorting and recycling household waste have been implemented, as reported by the press service of the Ministry of Ecology.
“Today, the waste generated by the population is collected by these enterprises and directed to recycling,” noted the chief specialist of the Ministry of Ecology, Nodir Sherkulov.
Over the past six months, these enterprises have processed 270,000 tons out of a total of 5.2 million tons of waste generated in the country annually. Thus, the recycling rate has exceeded 5%.
As part of the program for developing the country's ecological sustainability, agreements have been signed with several foreign companies, including partners from the UAE, South Korea, and China. The South Korean company Sejin is implementing a project to generate electricity from waste at the "Ahangaran" landfill.
Additionally, by 2027, the construction of plants for generating electricity from solid household waste is planned in several regions. It is expected that their operation will produce approximately 2.1 billion kWh of electricity annually, which will help reduce gas usage, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and decrease the burden on landfills.
Waste Recycling in Uzbekistan
In February, the head of the Ministry of Ecology, Aziz Abduhakimov, presented proposals in the field of environmental protection. Special economic zones are planned to be created in buffer areas near landfills, aimed at organizing the production of energy and fertilizers from waste.
A pilot project is planned to be implemented in the Andijan region. Here, a power station capable of producing up to 2 million kWh of electricity from waste is planned to be built for $13 million, along with a factory for producing organic fertilizers with a capacity of 100,000 tons per year.
A month later, the president announced the implementation of a new waste collection and recycling system. In each region, it is planned to create “eco-industrial zones” based on 3-4 landfills, where waste recycling will be established.
The American company Sayar also plans to organize energy production from medical waste. The project was scheduled to begin on August 1 in Tashkent, Samarkand, and Bukhara, with plans to expand it to other regions later.
In September, the Andijan regional administration signed a memorandum for the construction of a waste recycling plant with the company Jin Ming. The preliminary cost of the project is estimated at $250 million.
Furthermore, the Chinese company China Everbright Environment intends to build several waste incineration plants in Uzbekistan. In the first phase, two plants are planned in the Fergana and Namangan regions.
Earlier, Spot reported that companies from China and the UAE will build waste incineration plants in Uzbekistan.