The first bankruptcy procedure of a garbage operator began in Russia

Regional waste management operator of the Vologda Oblast "Aqualine" entered into bankruptcy proceedings. The landfill, located in the northeast of the region, has already refused to accept waste from it due to debts.

On October 6, the Arbitration Court of the Vologda Oblast introduced a monitoring procedure in one of two waste management operators in the Vologda Oblast - the company Aqualine. Back in May, the operator's agent for the execution of contracts "Settlement and Information Center Vologda" filed a lawsuit on his bankruptcy, to which he owed more than 19 million rubles.

Why is the garbage operator going bankrupt?

Aqualine became the first regional operator in Russia since the start of the garbage reform in January 2019 to go into bankruptcy. Previously, regional authorities only dismissed companies for improper performance of services.

The general director of Aqualine, Alexey Kopeikin, told RBC that the reason for the start of the bankruptcy of the company was the request of the authorities of the Vologda region from 2019 to reduce the tariffs for waste disposal by 20% compared to previously established. From January 1 to June 31, this tariff was reduced from 175 to 140 rubles. per person (the same fee is taken in Cherepovets), from July 1 to December 31, 2019 - by another 20% - from 140 rubles. up to 113 rubles. per person, he noted.

The discounts were provided under the promise of the authorities to compensate them, but this has not yet been done, so the company incurs losses, says the head of Aqualine. The company's loss in 2019 amounted to RUB 166.78 million, accounts payable - RUB 671.8 million, and accounts receivable - RUB 253.67 million. (data from SPARK and FTS). According to the head of the company, accounts receivable have already exceeded 300 million rubles, and by the end of 2020 the company will receive a loss of another 171 million rubles.

The financial difficulties of Aqualine have been known for a long time - it has received losses since 2018, says the head of the Clean Country Association Ruslan Gubaidullin (unites regional waste management operators). At the initial stage of the bankruptcy procedure, there is hope for the financial recovery of the company, he adds.

The Russian environmental operator (REO) is also aware of the situation with the introduction of surveillance at Aqualine, said its CEO Ilya Gudkov to RBC. “We held several videoconferences with the leadership of the region, because we believe that the situation was the result of their actions. At these meetings, the authorities of the Vologda region argued that, despite the gravity of the situation, they are keeping it under control and will find a solution, ”he said.

What are the risks of operator bankruptcy

If Aqualine goes bankrupt, then, according to Kopeikin, this will be followed by a series of bankruptcies of operators for the transportation and disposal of waste and disruption of the waste reform in the Vologda region.

A month ago, the REO warned of the risks of interrupting the work of nine waste collection operators in five regions, including Aqualine. Among the reasons, he named the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic and a decrease in consumer purchasing power. “Now most of these risks have been leveled, since regional operators received a government subsidy to cover the cash gaps at least for the period of the pandemic,” Ilya Gudkov explained.

Minister of Natural Resources Dmitry Kobylkin recently reported at a meeting in the State Duma that 8.9 billion rubles were allocated from the federal budget to support regional operators, of which 3.35 billion rubles were brought to recipients at the beginning of October.

However, "Aqualine", according to Kopeikin, received part of the state subsidy, and it was not enough to cover all debts. The company is already having difficulties with garbage disposal in the region due to debts to landfills and waste carriers. The landfill for receiving solid municipal waste with a capacity of more than 2 thousand tons per year, located in the village of Vozhega (170 km north-east of Vologda), on Wednesday, October 14, refused to accept waste from the Vologda region collected by the regional operator Aqualine, due to unpaid debts of the company and still does not accept. This was reported to RBC by Kopeikin and confirmed by Alexey Zvonkov, director of the Transport Ecological System (TPP, carries waste to Aqualine).

This is the only landfill to which Aqualine can transport garbage in accordance with the territorial waste management scheme of the Vologda Oblast, Kopeikin said. The debt of Aqualine to the landfill for the disposal of garbage as of October 12 was 1.15 million rubles, and the landfill's debt for taxes and fees was about 400 thousand rubles, Yevgeny Pervov, head of the Vozhegodsky municipal district administration, told RBC. He added that the landfill is now paralyzed.

Alexey Kopeikin assured RBC on October 15 that he transferred part of the funds to pay off the debt and the landfill is preparing to again accept garbage from carriers. Aqualine paid only more than 200 thousand (about 20% of the debt) - “this is a drop in the ocean,” said Roman Bogachev, representative of the housing and communal services department of the Vozhegodsky municipal district (runs the landfill). "Aqualine" transports waste to 15 landfills in the region, debts have also accumulated in front of them for four months, Kopeikin emphasizes, but they still continue to accept waste for burial.

Waste carriers who work on a contract with a regional operator also complain about large debts, but have not yet stopped working with him, but intend to collect the debt as part of the bankruptcy procedure, Alexey Zvonkov, director of the TPP, told RBC.

The press service of the Vologda Oblast government could not promptly answer RBC's question.

Source: https://www.rbc.ru/