I.Metshin: “The construction of the second cell at the Vostochny is a pressing need for the city”

Preparatory work has begun in Kazan on developing a second cell of the Vostochny municipal solid waste landfill. The only operating landfill in the city on Khimicheskaya Street is almost full. The area of the new site will be 84 thousand sq.m with capacity 1.6 million tons of waste. The facility is scheduled to be put into operation at the end of the year. The progress of work at the site of the landfill was inspected by the Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin.

The construction of the second cell at the Vostochny is a pressing need for the city, the Mayor noted in a conversation with Sergey Bogatov, Director General of the property management company PZhKH, which is a regional operator for the MSW treatment. The only operating landfill on Khimicheskaya Street can accept waste only until January 2023. According to initial estimations, its capacity should have been enough for another couple of years, however, due to the increased volumes of waste in recent years, the actual filling is ahead of the designed capacity. Over the past 10 years, the amount of exported household waste in Kazan has increased by 1.5 times.

I.Metshin drew attention to the fact that the Samosyrovo residential area is located just two and a half kilometers from the Vostochny landfill. The Mayor instructed the deputy head of the Executive Committee of Kazan Iskander Giniyatullin to monitor the timing of construction work and compliance with all necessary environmental measures.

Sergey Bogatov reported that the project of the second cell had passed the state environmental expertise. It includes the construction of treatment facilities, as well as a system of active degassing and purification of landfill gases – now this is a mandatory requirement for the construction of a landfill.

The requirements for the treatment facilities that will be located near the landfill have also changed. “The new project will allow to triple their capacity, - S.Bogatov stressed. - The new cell will be put into operation according to new environmental standards, which will minimize the impact on the environment. After closing, the landfill will be covered with a special film, covered with rubble, and trees will be planted on top.” It is worth noting that, in comparison with the previous standards, the requirements for the quality of the film that covers the landfill and the area of the territory covered with rubble have tightened – according to the new requirements, the entire cell of the landfill must be covered with fine grade material.

The second cell of the Vostochny is designed for operation for three years. The head of the regional operator company assured that the work on the creation of the second cell will be carried out in accordance with the approved schedule.

I.Metshin noted that Kazan already has a successful experience in the reclamation of landfills. “The new project of developing the second cell is very important for Kazan. We have a good experience in the reclamation of the Samosyrovo landfill, which is located near the Vostochny. Quite recently it was a huge mountain of garbage, and now it is a green hill and today nothing reminds that there used to be a 50–year-old landfill here”, - the head of the city said. In addition, Kazan has started the reclamation of the Kazan Ecological Complex (KEC) landfill. This project involves the processing of landfill gas into electricity.