“Clean Up Georgia” Project (Phase III) Waste Management Problems in Mtskheta-Mtianeti Region
Georgian Society of Nature Explorers “Orchis” organized meetings in Mtskheta, Dusheti, Tianeti and Kazbegi Municipalities, Mtskheta-Mtianeti Region, where the following characteristic waste management issues have been revealed:
1) Lack of information about international liabilities and national legal framework regarding household waste management on a municipality level ;
2) Lack of information about operational waste recycling plants, modern waste recycling technologies and opportunities for their implementation in Georgia;
3) Scarcity of information about on-going and planned activities in municipal waste management sector of the country;
4) Problems related to on-site waste separation including legal and financial issues among others (insufficient number of waste trucks and waste bins);
5) Necessity to enforce existing legal liabilities (penalties) for waste dumping;
6) Issues with the management of hazardous household waste (including medical waste);
7) Insufficiency of human and technical resources on municipal level in the region – the necessity to build the capacity to ensure development of 5-years municipal waste management plan;
8) Abrupt increase of waste and littering during recreational season (within the tourism zone); the presence of construction and household waste dumpsites;
9) Low awareness level among population, vacationers and transit drivers about household waste management (littering of environment by them), the need for preparation and distribution of information materials.
The project “Clean Up Georgia” is being implemented by a consortium of NGOs: Georgian Society of Nature Explorers “Orchis”, “Greens Movement of Georgia/Friends of the Earth-Georgia” and “Raising of Ecological Awareness and Waste Management” with the financial support of the Government of Sweden, with the support of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Protection of Georgia, in cooperation with the Ltd “Solid Waste Management Company of Georgia”.