New Communal Tariffs Invented For Belarusians

At first they will be tested on the residents of Minsk.

Belarus has developed differentiated tariffs for waste removal. In the near future they will be introduced in Minsk, Deputy Head of the energy department at the administration of energy and municipal economy of Minsk city executive committee Dzmitry Pliashkou said during the round table discussion organized by the newspaper 7 Days.

After the "break-in" in the capital, the mentioned tariffs will be introduced in other cities, they said in the Ministry of housing and utilities.

— It is planned to introduce the differentiated tariff in the capital soon. This means that two tariffs for the removal, processing and disposal of solid waste will work: the lower one for those who do not have a garbage disposal, and much higher — for those who live in the houses with garbage disposal, — Dzmitry Pliashkou said.

— The tariff has been already developed, approved and is being coordinated. In addition, the city will provide the required number of container yards to meet the standards corresponding to the number of inhabitants living. Not everything has been done by the urban services yet, but the work is expected to be completed in 2018.

At the same time, head of the department of communal housing and energy at the Ministry of Housing and Utilities Maryna Toustsik added that "the differentiated tariff will be introduced in other cities after the test in Minsk."

Earlier, the Ministry of Housing and Utilities proposed to calculate the tariff for the treatment of municipal solid waste based on the number of people registered in the apartment (or house). Today, the calculation is made on the basis of cubic meters of waste generated, which is installed separately in each district and major cities.

A new approach to the formation of tariffs for the treatment of MSW, according to experts of the Ministry, would eliminate the possibilities of establishing a subjective standard related to the MSW; will make the charging clear, and will also stimulate the housing and communal services to reduce costs.

Also, the Ministry proposed a transition to a differentiated payment for the treatment of the MSW, depending on the quality of service (the presence of garbage disposal, export periodicity, availability of containers for separate waste collection or yard-to-yard detour). It is assumed that the rate for houses where separate collection of waste is organized will be lower than for those where all the waste is dumped into a common chute.

It is planned that by 2018 the disposal of solid municipal waste will rise in price by 19%.