New sanitary landfill opened in Bishkek

The first sanitary landfill meeting the national and European environmental standards was opened in Bishkek. Delegation of the European Union to the Kyrgyz Republic reported.

The landfill, which has a storage capacity of 1.9 million m³, will allow the country’s largest municipality to safely dispose of solid waste for another decade. Equipped with a base sealing system, the landfill will also be able to capture and treat leachate, a contaminated liquid with a strong odour, and prevent it from dispersing into groundwater and causing contamination.

«This project that helps Tazalyk and Bishkek Sanitary Landfill companies to improve waste collection, replace outdated equipment, establish a new sanitary landfill and introduce waste minimization measures in the Bishkek city has been done with EU grants and EBRD loans. The construction of new EU-compliant sanitary landfill is one of the components of the project. The new landfill will significantly improve municipal services, air quality and helps Bishkek to be more environmentally friendly», said Marilyn Josefson, the EU Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan.

Tazalyk used the funds to acquire modern waste-collection trucks and a GPS tracking system to monitor them. The financing also allowed for the construction of new waste collection points to encourage responsible waste disposal.

The project for the reclamation of the Bishkek sanitary landfill and improvement of the situation with the discharge of solid household waste in the city began to be prepared back in 2011, the loan agreement was signed only in 2013, and ratified in 2015. As part of the project, the EBRD provided €22 million in the form of a loan and the EU — €8 million in the form of a loan.