REO will be the sole waste accounting system in Russia

The Russian Environmental Operator will control two waste accounting systems simultaneously , namely the unified state system for accounting for waste from the use of goods (EGIS UOIT) and the state information system for accounting for solid municipal waste (GIS UTKO). This follows from the federal law "On the Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation." The document was signed by President Vladimir Putin.

The GIS UTKO system contains elements of the digital model of the federal waste management plan, which is being developed by REO. In this digital system, current and future infrastructure objects are presented (landfills, sorting, etc.). It also contains information about regional operators and their work, settlement systems between regional operators and financiers.

“The transfer of the powers of the operator of GIS UTKO to the Russian Environmental Operator will make it possible to develop and commission this information system faster and cheaper on the basis of data from the federal waste management plan. Within the framework of GIS UTKO, traceability of the waste movement will be ensured. Records will be kept for all targets set in the regions. It is a strong tool already, but after commissioning, the system has numerous interested users from among the authorities and organizations,” - Denis Butsaev, Director General of REO.

The GIS UOIT system contains information about the packaging of used goods, the accounting of which is necessary within the framework of the EPR system. EPR is a mechanism of economic regulation, according to which the manufacturers and the importers of goods are obliged to dispose of products that were produced or imported into the country. They can do it themselves or pay an eco-fee.

“The centralization of information systems management will allow synchronizing the work of digital products' data. Within the framework of GIS UOIT, a systematic and reliable accounting of everything related to waste disposal within the EPR framework will be established,” - Denis Butsaev, Director General of REO.

According to him, it would be logical to combine both systems in the future.

“On the basis of these two information systems, a unified information system in the field of waste management can be created in the future. And this system will fully cover the needs of the state for information that is available on the management of all types of waste," - Denis Butsaev, Director General of REO.

Industry experts are positive about the legislative changes. Vladimir Maryev - the head of the Center for Environmental Industrial Policy of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia, believes that the integration of REO with all information systems will make it possible to exclude inaccurate reporting by manufacturers and importers and unscrupulous processors.

“Alongside an audit of material flows, equipment with elements of planning the direction of flows not limited to sorting, and resulting resources to enterprises that use these resources, will allow the formation of the missing infrastructure for integrated waste and secondary resources management. It is not enough to implement the principles of a circular economy, if you trace only the movement of waste streams from generators to processing. And this missing block (management of secondary resources) must be provided for these branches. Thus, the importance of integrating these branches in the same hands cannot be overestimated, but attention should be paid to the refinement that I mentioned. This is the basis of state strategic planning, which underlies the circular economy in developed countries. Alone, the market will not solve the issue of involving secondary resources in the economic turnover. And the target indicators laid down in the National Project “Ecology” and in the Presidential Decrees will not be met,” - says Maryev.

Alexander Kogan, an expert on the thematic platform of the ONF "Ecology", noted that REO was created by the Decree of the President to form an integrated system for handling solid municipal waste. This area was singled out and concentrated in the same hands, in view of the severity of the problem and the need for decisive measures in the shortest possible time.

“Therefore, today's amendments to the law on waste is a logical management decision - to consolidate in one hand, the hands of the state owned REO, information systems directly related to the management of municipal waste. The decision is very timely. EGIS UOIT is the main tool for monitoring the extended producer responsibility system, the approaches to which are now being completely transformed. And the control and accounting of the movement of waste is the next necessary step after the creation of a federal waste management plan ,” - says Alexander Kogan.

“The lack of information about waste management operators and their work, infrastructure facilities and their capacities, as well as its reliability, is the number one problem in the industry,” - says the General Director of Delphi, Deputy Chairman of the Committee for Waste Recycling and Secondary Resources of the Delovaya Rossiya organization Natalia Belyaeva.

“Opacity, vague rules of the game, which are constantly transforming, disagreements in the interpretation of the law between different levels of government. All of this is the consequence of the lack of information. Because of this, the industry, despite the huge interest in it from the market, does not look attractive either for customers or for investors. The need for verified information is huge. That is why, in my opinion, it is important that there is an authorized operator who would aggregate the necessary data, providing them with access to all those interested in them. It is also important that for the first time the emphasis was placed not only on MSW, but also on waste from the use of goods. The very waste that we habitually call recyclable materials, the collection of which is supposed to be separate,” - said Natalia Belyaeva, Deputy Chairperson of the Committee for Waste Recycling and Secondary Resources of Delovaya Rossiya.

“The transfer of functions for the management and administration of two information systems is logical,” - says Ildar Neverov, Deputy Chairman of the Committee for Waste Recycling and Secondary Resources of Delovaya Rossiya.

“ REO has the competencies to professionally fill, maintain and manage these systems. This will give the industry the long-awaited transparency. We will understand in which regions, at which points which waste is generated throughout the country. Regional waste management plans for all 85 constituent entities are scattered, and this will be one single information shell. Most importantly, this will help us launch the same information system at the beginning of 2022 under the extended producer responsibility. Where we will see what kind of recyclable materials are formed in recycling plants and among market players, and where it is processed. This complete framework will be obtained, covering all areas of our industry," - said Ildar Neverov, Deputy Chairman of the Committee for Waste Recycling and Secondary Resources of Delovaya Rossiya.