russia Is Turning into a Landfill – Rubbish, Along with Budget Billions, Continues to Be Buried in the Ground

The kremlin has announced that due to a shortage of rubbish recycling plants, the closure of landfills in some regions of the country will be postponed until 2028. With this statement, russian officials have effectively acknowledged the failure of the “Waste Reform”, which aimed to halve waste burial and achieve 100 % waste sorting by 2030.

At the same time, the central government has postponed to 2029 the closure of illegal dumps, which were supposed to be “over and done with” first in 2023, then in 2026.

The accumulation of rubbish and the government’s desire to continue burying waste in the ground are causing discontent among the population. In the Altai Territory, Sverdlovsk, and Orenburg regions, people took to the streets and recorded video messages to putin. To no avail. The authorities respond with repression – the police visit the organizers of the protests with threats and fines, which only exacerbates the conflict.

The reluctance of russian officials to actively tackle the waste problem can be explained by the opportunity to bury billions of state funds in the ground without control. Over five years, state reformers have spent 210 billion rubles of public funds on reforming the waste processing industry. During this time, the share of waste recycling has grown from 7 % to 12 %, although the authorities promised 25 %. For comparison: in Germany, 84 % of waste is recycled, in South Korea – 86 %.