Further Use of Experience Gained from the Project for Coordinated Management of ODS and POPs Disposal
As part of the GEF-UNIDO project “Coordinated Management of ODS and POPs Disposal in Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Armenia (regional demonstration project)”, technological solutions for the collection and destruction of ozone-depleting substances and persistent organic pollutants were developed and tested, institutional capacity was strengthened, and the regulatory framework of the participating countries was improved.
The experience accumulated will be useful in the implementation of new projects aimed at environmental protection and compliance with the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, and other international treaties.
Project for the Elimination of Hazardous Pesticide Burial Sites
One such new project is the Union State of Russia and Belarus project to develop a comprehensive solution for cleaning up territories contaminated with obsolete pesticides. The project provides for the creation of a special technology for the destruction of hazardous chemicals and a pilot plant for its testing. The first site for testing is to be the Gorodok pesticide burial site in Vitebsk Region.
The joint development of a technology for the extraction and processing of pesticides was discussed in the summer of 2024 during the first meeting of the Russian-Belarusian working group on identifying projects aimed at developing cooperation under the Memorandum of Understanding between Rosatom State Corporation and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Belarus.
On 10 April 2025, a working meeting was held under the chairmanship of the Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, Sergei Maslyak. The meeting, dedicated to the implementation of the project, was attended by representatives of key organisations: Advisor to the Director General of Rosatom State Corporation, Grigory Rapota; Deputy Head of the Permanent Committee of the Union State in Minsk, Vladimir Zhevnyak; and a representative of the Federal Environmental Operator, Lyudmila Plyushch.
In July 2025, the project was presented at a round table entitled “Pesticides and Ecology: How to Ensure Safety?” in the State Duma of the Russian Federation. In August of the same year, representatives of the Ministry of Natural Resources, Rosatom State Corporation, the Permanent Committee of the Union State, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), and local authorities of Vitebsk Region visited the Gorodok obsolete pesticide burial site during a technical tour.
The purpose of the visit was to develop actions for the elimination of the burial site and to prepare a project proposal for consideration by the Permanent Committee of the Union State on the creation of a technology and a pilot industrial plant for the destruction of hazardous waste, with testing during the elimination of the Gorodok obsolete pesticide burial site.
In the future, the technologies for the destruction of hazardous waste may be offered to other countries, including developing nations and BRICS countries.