Ecological waste-reduction programs are becoming trendy and many companies in Ukraine are looking to adopt them, while some ecological experts say that more action is needed.
Ukraine is responding to a global movement toward solid waste reduction and recycling. Part of this global trend is mandated by regulations, such as the recent European Parliament approval of a gradual ban on certain types of single-use plastics. The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, is currently considering its own similar legislation.
Some companies have also launched their own initiatives as part of their corporate social responsibility programs. Experts also said they noticed Ukrainian consumers starting to be more conscious of the importance of recycling and the danger of disposable products like plastic bags.
“This is very much trending right now,” said Maryna Saprykina, managing director at the Center for the Development of Corporate Social Responsibility in Ukraine.
For example, European Business Association committee manager Christina Linichenko said that multiple large retailers have ecological CSR projects — reducing single-use plastics, switching to biodegradable or reusable bags and establishing recycling centers. The charge is mainly being led by international companies with branches in Ukraine.
However, several experts said that ecological programs are still in their early stages in Ukraine and some companies still see ecological responsibility as a quick fix for the sake of public relations as opposed to a fundamental restructuring of their business model. Some programs — like so-called biodegradable plastic bags — may even be doing more harm than good.
Changing habits
Environmental NGOs have often warned against the growing problem of garbage in Ukraine. Single-use plastics are especially dangerous, because they can build up in landfills or pollute the environment.
According to research by agricultural company Goodvalley Ukraine LLC, in the country, “only 7 percent of waste is sorted and recycled while the rest is transported to landfills.” Linichenko told the Kyiv Post that up to 10 percent of Ukrainian waste is recycled.
According to a 2018 petition by the environmental NGO ReThink, every Ukrainian uses about 500 polyethylene bags per year and a very small percent of them are recycled. These bags kill many animals and birds after they end up in the ground, woods, rivers and seas. Besides bags, polluting products include disposable straws, plates, cups, cutlery and other items.
Oksana Kravchenko, the media coordinator of environmental NGO Zelena Hvilya, told the Kyiv Post that part of the problem comes from the habits of Ukrainians, many of whom don’t yet understand the full danger of solid waste.
Hanna Ponikarchuk, co-founder of the environmental project O. Zero, agreed. However, she added that households and companies are becoming more aware of what’s needed in order to protect the environment. She said that even a small reduction in Ukrainians’ use of disposable packages will have a positive ripple effect throughout the ecosystem.
Business strategies
Still, a great deal also depends on business.
Some experts see encouraging signs. According to Saprykina, about 65 percent of all Ukrainian companies now have some form of ecological responsibility program, up from fewer than 10 percent in 2010. A majority of these programs revolve around reducing carbon dioxide emission and increasing energy efficiency.
However, the reduction and recycling of solid waste, including plastic, is also gaining steam, according to multiple experts and businesses that spoke to the Kyiv Post. Ponikarchuk said that a year ago, she saw supermarket employees pushing back against replacing small plastic bags with reusable alternatives but they have now started accepting the practice as normal.
Last year, Silpo supermarkets partnered with the NGO Ukraine Without Waste to create three recycling stations in Kyiv. People can bring in their recyclable waste, which includes certain plastics, metal, glass and paper. The waste is sorted and sent to recycling plants, which are run by separate companies. Silpo incentivizes people to bring in their garbage by giving them points on company loyalty cards, which can then be redeemed during shopping.
Silpo’s project lead, Galyna Dmitruk, said that 72 tons of material has been recycled as of March and the amount has grown since then. The company plans to open seven more recycling stations across multiple cities, including Dnipro, Odesa and Zaporizhia.
Goodvalley Ukraine has a program to collect and sort recyclable garbage around its farms and adjacent villages. Paper, plastic and glass containers are sorted out from the general waste and sold to recycling plants. The project involves 8 village councils in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, and provides for the education of locals on how to sort their waste.
The Ukrainian Packaging and Environment Coalition, an association of companies that produce packaging, which includes Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, TetraPak and Elopak, stated that member companies are sorting and recycling packaging waste, starting with a pilot program in Vyshgorod in the Kyiv Oblast. The Coalition stated that over the course of a year, 320 tons of packaging waste, or 25 percent of all packaging waste in Vyshgorod, was collected for recycling.
EBA’s Linichenko said that major retailers including Novus, Metro, Auchan and Billa are introducing programs to limit their solid waste. These include phasing out thin single-use plastic bags (between 2 and 10 micrometers thick), the introduction and sale of reusable bags and nets, and cellulose bags that aren’t as strong as plastic but are fully biodegradable. However, multiple NGOs stated that these companies still use too much plastic.
Workers sort garbage at the No Waste Recycling Station in Kyiv on September 4, 2018. Several recycling stations have opened in Kyiv over the past year. (Ukrinform)
Biosphere Corporation, which makes storage accessories and household goods, told the Kyiv Post that it runs a plant that recycles plastic products into pellets which can then be used to make new plastic packaging and other goods. The company sells some of these pellets and uses others in the manufacturing of its products.
In a more controversial move, some stores, including Novus and Metro, are also introducing plastic bags that contain a substance that enables them to break down into tiny particles within the span of roughly three years, according to Linichenko. Experts explained that this substance is called D2W and is produced by the British company Symphony Environmental. Environmentalists warn that far from being a solution, this substance makes plastic pollution even harder to control.
Room for improvement
Several NGO representatives told the Kyiv Post that they are encouraged by the growing attention to solid waste but would like to see more.
“Every day, there are more and more people at our recycling stations and many cafes and restaurants are stopping the use of disposable plastic or replace it with more environmentally friendly materials,” Ivanka Davydenko of Ukraine Without Waste told the Kyiv Post. “However, there is still not enough attention and we need the support of the media and a wider dissemination of information about the problem and possibilities to fight against it.”
Saprykina said that there are two kinds of companies — those that integrate ecological programs into their core operating procedure and those that run ecological CSR largely because it’s trendy and they want to maintain good PR.
“I would divide it into practices that are integrated into the business,” said Saprykina. “And… the more tactical practices… ‘because it’s a trend, so we are doing it.’”
She added that manufacturing companies tend to fall under the former category while retailers and other consumer-facing companies tend toward the latter. While she supplied Kyiv Post with examples of multiple companies, including retailers, that have environmental programs, she pointed out that over a third of all Ukrainian companies still lack ecological strategies.
Davydenko said that, despite some stores starting to sell reusable bags, single-use plastics are still on offer and the smallest ones are handed out for free. She suggested that one solution could be to charge money for all plastic bags. However, some people buy reusable bags and still end up throwing them out.
Several experts told the Kyiv Post that, despite major retailers starting to switch out their single-use plastic bags, many bazaars or markets still hand out a lot of disposable plastics.
“With bazaars, everything is a bit more complicated. There, cheap disposable packaging reigns supreme,” said Davydenko. “However, unlike in supermarkets, fruits and vegetables aren’t packed into plastic… and you can always use your own bag.”
Experts also raised a concern about the so-called biodegradable plastic bags containing D2W, also known as oxo-degradable plastic. Ponikarchuk and Davydenko said that there is no evidence that such bags fully biodegrade. Instead, they fall apart into microplastic particles, which can easily get into the ground, the air, and the water supply, poisoning animals and people. This makes them more dangerous than large plastic bags, which can at least be gathered in one place. Oxo-degradable plastics do not require any certification in Ukraine, according to ReThink.
The European Union recommended to ban the use of plastics that contain D2W, writing that these plastics are “not a solution for the environment and that oxo-degradable plastic is not suited for long-term use, recycling or composting. There is considerable risk that fragmented plastics will not fully biodegrade and are a subsequent risk of an accelerated and accumulating amount of microplastics in the environment.”
Pending legislation
This week, the European Parliament approved a new law banning single-use plastic items like plates, straws and cutlery by 2021. The law calls on member states to collect 90 percent of plastic bottles by 2029 and forces plastic bottles to contain 25 percent recycled content by 2025.
In January, the Verkhovna Rada, introduced bill 9507, proposing a ban on the sale of light plastic bags in retail outlets. However, the bill contains exceptions, permitting certain ultralight plastic bags as well as bulk products for which the bag is the primary packaging.
ReThink supported the bill, stating that it would align Ukraine “with civilized countries that understand the consequences of excessive use of plastics for the environment.” It would also force Ukraine to quickly develop alternative, environmentally-safe products.
However, Linichenko and the EBA criticized aspects of the bill, saying that while business supported a reduction in plastic bags, it would be unfair to supermarkets because they face more inspections than bazaars, which would continue to use small disposable plastics.
