The municipalities of the Sumy Oblast have begun to work closely on the creation of local waste management plans as part of U-LEAD’s support programme. 16 municipalities of the Konotop-Romny cluster are involved in this initiative, including 8 rural, 3 settlement and 5 urban municipalities.
As was stated by Oleh Chernysh, Public Infrastructure Adviser at U-LEAD, a key feature of this support programme is working with the entire cluster, united by one goal — to develop and coordinate local waste management plans. According to him, the selected municipalities will be among the first to work on the development of such documents, becoming models for their colleagues from other municipalities and regions.
Oleh Chernysh also emphasised that the development of local plans was an opportunity to build comprehensive solutions to help municipalities plan waste management investments. Sound investment decisions are critical to long-term development and recovery planning.
In addition to developing the plans, the municipalities participating in the support programme will also hold discussions of the document to account for feedback from the public. The municipalities include Andriiashivka, Bochechky, Buryn, Vilshanka, Duboviazivka, Konotop, Korovyntsi, Krolevets, Lypova Dolyna, Nedryhayliv, Nova Sloboda, Popivka, Putyvl, Romny, Synivska and Khmeliv. Maryna Lobova, Head of the Regional Office of U-LEAD in the Sumy oblast, told more about this.
“Importantly, this work also lays the foundation for European integration processes. After all, these approaches to waste management are about the European way. And our municipalities are already paving it.”
According to Dmytro Laznenko, Waste Management Expert at U-LEAD with Europe, each participating municipality must develop not only a plan, but also a waste management system, ensure its development and effective functioning:
“This system must meet all regulatory and legal requirements, and a number of considerations, technological solutions and institutional and organisational aspects must be taken into account when developing and creating this system. It is essential that this waste management system complies with the regional waste management plan, local plan and is consistent with the public amenities rules.”