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Last changed: 11/02/11
There are songs that pay tribute to the beauty of Lake Baikal in Russia’s Far East, numerous stories tell of and admire its uniqueness. Lake Baikal was formed about 25 million years ago, making it the world’s oldest freshwater lake. 20% of the world’s freshwater supply is here. Its nature is characterised by a great number of endemicPrevalent in or peculiar to a particular locality, region, or people species, that is, which only occur locally. The most well-known of them is surely the Baikal seal that lives in freshwater only. UNESCO declared the area a World Heritage Site in 1996.
Such a natural inventory makes Lake Baikal a popular recreational destination for domestic and foreign tourists. One of the most beautiful short trip and holiday destinations is the lake’s Olkhon Island, located 250 km away from the industrial centres of Irkutsk and Angarsk on Lake Baikal’s western shore. A ferry service from the mainland operates in summer. Olkhon Island has about 1,500 year-round residents, and the numbers swell considerably in the June, July and August summer months. The summer season tourism is the economic mainstay for the people of Olkhon Island.
However, Olkhon has an often visible problem: waste. Disorderly disposal of residential waste poses a great environmental problem. A lack of waste sorting and an irregular waste removal schedule as a consequence of insufficient funding result in illegal ”do-it-yourself” waste disposal, turning some of Olkhon’s coves, beaches, recreational areas, and settlements into (illegal) landfills. Not only do the widespread illegal landfills diminish the attractiveness of the island for tourists, it also contaminates soil, air, and water. As a result of a two-year advisory assistance project, the University of Duisburg-Essen and the Technical University of Irkutsk cooperated with various local officials to improve the situation.
The students of both universities devised their waste management concept based on the volume of waste created on Olkhon Island and what its various components are. Their analyses revealed unusually high percentages of reusable materials. The waste management strategy developed in an open process together with the Technical University of Irkutsk and the appropriate public authorities provides for the introduction of orderly waste collection and disposal, in addition to separate collection of glass, metals, and plastics, as well as separation and composting of organic wastes on the island. Intermediate storage will also be set up. As a result, the volume of disposable waste can be cut by more than 50%.
During a summer internship Russian and German students cleaned up a part of the island by separating collected waste according to raw materials and setting up collection points. This produced a small recycling depot which now allows for separate collection of the various reusable materials in waste, and its subsequent recycling.
A business plan drawn up by the University of Duisburg-Essen showed several financing models for a municipal waste collection company which might guarantee long-term regular waste disposal. These measures need not cost much money as costs might be covered by charging a small fee to tourists and/or the local population.
Two German companies came on board to provide consulting and technical support. The SSI Schäfer company advised on ways to collect various waste types separately on Olkhon Island and offered to support a pilot project in separated waste collection. The icTP company offered Russian businesses its consultancy services with regard to recycling of plastics. Despite these two positive examples, the search for German companies proved quite difficult. Citing the great distance to the Baikal region, various businesses in the glass recycling and waste paper industry had previously declined to make any commitment.
The project involved various stakeholders on Olkhon Island. Special emphasis was placed on environmental education and public relations.
Project participants developed curricula and materials for school classes from 1st through eleventh grade at the island’s only middle school in an effort to promote environmental education. Schoolchildren did their own projects on waste, which played a considerable role in getting the active support of the local residents in a waste collection campaign at the end of the project. Public relations efforts produced publications aimed at educating tourists and residents about ecological waste disposal.
The www.baikal-waste.eu website in German, Russian, and English languages provides a detailed illustration of the project.
The University of Duisburg Essen, with the help of its project partners in Irkutsk, was able to get political decision makers involved in the project. Administration’s interest and willingness to make a greater commitment to a modern and ecological waste management system have risen significantly, and it has also caught on in the regional capital of Irkutsk. The city administration of Irkutsk is currently carrying out a pilot project to introduce separate waste collection in one city district.
After the project concludes it will largely be in the hands of the Olkhon Island’s administration and the Irkutsk region’s governor’s office to implement the results of the project efficiently. The critical issues concern financing a schedule of regular waste disposal, improvement of recycling conditions, e.g. separate collection and security of the central depot, which is not ecologically managed at present.
The project demonstrates that tailored measures, appropriate contact persons and a good concept can raise awareness of environmental problems. German know-how and German technology are held in high esteem in matters of environmental engineering. However, the implementation of schemes to solve environmental problems always remains the job of local administrations and people. The job of bringing them on board is an important one which is actively supported by the Advisory Assistance Programme.
Guidance during this project was provided by UBA’s Section III 3.3 – Waste Management Technology.
All photos for this article are from www.baikal-waste.eu.