The study in the framework of the pilot project «Trash Free National Parks», which will last until July 2020, begins its second phase . The project was initiated by the Lake Baikal Foundation and supported by the Presidential Grants Foundation. During the first phase of the project (from July 2019), a study of the morphological composition of solid municipal waste (SMW) and logistics of waste management in Zabaikalsky national park was conducted, points of separate collection of recyclables were installed, educational work was carried out with visitors to the national park.
Olga Ulanova, invited project manager of the SMW study, an international expert in the field of production and consumption, waste management and environmental management, told us what scientists are working on now:
— The second stage of the project is devoted to the development of a comprehensive concept of sustainable waste management for Zabaikalsky national park, to the search for alternative science-based scenarios for the development of waste management system on its territory.
Scenarios are developed on the basis of the approach providing the maximum possible involvement of secondary material resources in a closed cycle of resource saving. Schemes of flows of SMW based on the logistics approach will be a mandatory element in the scenarios. The concept, formed as a result, will contain long-term, medium-term, short-term and operational planning of the SMW management system, taking into account the projected increase in the flow of tourists.
The tactics of action and the roadmap for managing the flows of SMW in Zabaikalsky national park will be an addition to the concept.
In parallel with the development of the concept, the experts of the Department of Ecology and Life Safety of East Siberian State University of technology and management will conduct a survey of regional enterprises for the processing of secondary material resources in order to assist the administration of the national park in concluding agreements on the export and processing of recycled materials.