Eco-tax revenues in Mykolaiv region drop threefold: development of waste management plan suspended due to lack of funds

A place of storage of demolition waste at the municipal landfill in Mykolaiv. Archive photo: NikVesti

In Mykolaiv region, there has been a significant reduction in revenues to the regional environmental protection fund from environmental tax — more than three times compared to the pre-war period.

This was reported by Dmytro Matsa, deputy head of the department for the development and preservation of the nature reserve fund of the Department of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration, during a briefing on 21 May, according to NikVesti.

According to him, due to a lack of funding from the environmental fund, the development of a regional waste management plan, which was launched in 2021-2022, has been suspended.

«We are now looking for funding to develop a regional waste management plan. We started this work in 2021-2022, but it was suspended with the start of the full-scale invasion. Unfortunately, revenues to the environmental fund from the environmental tax have now decreased significantly — more than three times. Accordingly, we currently do not have the budgetary resources to implement such a large-scale project,» said Dmytro Matsa.

He noted that the regional authorities are trying to attract international support, in particular through UNDP grant programmes and other donor projects.

As a reminder, in January-February 2025, enterprises in Mykolaiv region that pollute the environment transferred 15 million hryvnias in environmental tax to the budgets.

Demolition waste in Mykolaiv region

As of the end of 2023, Mykolaiv region was among the six regions most contaminated with demolition waste: it covered an area of more than half a million square metres. Currently, some of this waste is stored at landfills, while others are still at the sites of destruction. This is harmful to the environment of the region: the destruction waste pollutes water, soil, and air. This raises the issue of their professional disposal and recycling to rebuild the region, as described in the article NikVesti «Raising from the ruins: How is Mykolaiv region going to get rid of destruction waste?»

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As of the end of November 2023, 57 hectares of the territory of Mykolaiv region were littered with construction waste caused by shelling. At the same time, the Department of Housing and Communal Services of Mykolaiv reported that by the end of 2023, the city should receive a special installation for shredding demolition waste.

In 2023, five temporary storage sites for demolition waste were identified in Mykolaiv region.

At the same time, a plant for processing construction waste generated by enemy shelling is to be built in Mykolaiv region. The plant is expected to process construction waste from two regions: Mykolaiv and Kherson, said Oleh Pylypenko, head of the Shevchenkove community. The Shevchenkove community also wants to deal with the disposal of hazardous demolition waste containing asbestos.

In particular, the Japanese international cooperation agency JICA, which plans to build a solid waste recycling plant in Mykolaiv, has donated about €5 million worth of construction waste processing equipment to the city. The project to build a construction waste recycling plant in Mykolaiv will start in early 2025, and staff training will begin in autumn. It is planned to be used for the needs of two more regions: Kherson and part of Kirovohrad.

As of 1 July 2024, almost 6,000 tonnes of construction waste was generated in Mykolaiv region due to Russian shelling.

Read also the article NikVesti «Eco-reconstruction of the South: where does the waste of destruction go and why is the example of Kharkiv useful».

Read also the article NikVesti « When will the construction waste recycling station start operating in Mykolaiv: what is delaying the process».

The construction waste recycling station in Mykolaiv is planned to be launched in the spring of 2025.