The government decided to reduce the cost of waste disposal

The cost of "garbage reform" will be halved.

With national defense spending on the rise, the authorities will cut waste management costs in half in 2023-2024. But this will not affect plans to increase the share of waste sorting and disposal, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources.

Federal budget expenditures on the creation of infrastructure for the processing and disposal of waste, provided for by the federal project "Integrated System for the Management of Solid Municipal Waste", in 2023 will be reduced by 2.1 times compared to the previous year, to 12.5 billion rubles. This follows from the materials for the draft federal budget for the next three years, which are at the disposal of RBC (the authenticity of the document was confirmed by an interlocutor close to the government).

In 2024, the costs of this federal project will increase slightly (to 14.07 billion rubles), but will still be half as much as provided for by the current budget law (27.96 billion rubles). In general, government spending on the Ecology national project, which includes the Integrated Municipal Solid Waste Management System, is proposed to be reduced by 10–11% in 2023–2024 compared to the original plan, to 119.5 billion and 88.38 billion rubles. respectively. In 2022, 128.77 billion rubles were allocated for Ecology.

Decrease in expenses for "Ecology" is planned against the backdrop of rising spending on national defense. In 2022, these expenditures may increase by 30.9%, to 4.68 trillion rubles, while the total budget expenditures will amount to 27.6 trillion rubles. (+11.5%). Next year they will grow by another 6.5%, or by 303 billion rubles, to 4.98 trillion rubles. (total budget - by 5%, up to 29.06 trillion rubles).

What articles will be shortened

In 2023, such budget items as the “National Economy” (includes road funds, agriculture and other sectors of the economy; -15.4%, up to 3.65 trillion rubles), “Healthcare” (-4, 1%, to 1.47 trillion rubles) and housing and communal services (-6.4%, to 604.1 billion rubles).

As part of the preparation of the budget, prioritization of projects in the field of ecology and cost optimization were carried out, says Marta Galicheva, a representative of the relevant Deputy Prime Minister Victoria Abramchenko. But everything that is already planned for implementation, has the necessary documents or is under development, for example, the elimination of objects of accumulated harm, landfills, is fully funded, she emphasizes. Thus, the indicators set by the federal project "Integrated System for the Management of Municipal Solid Waste" are being achieved and will be met on time, Denis Butsaev, CEO of the Russian Environmental Operator (REO; curator of the garbage reform), told RBC. A similar position was expressed by the representative of the Ministry of Natural Resources. According to the ministry, in the first half of 2022, the share of municipal solid waste processing increased from 43.3% to 49%, the share of their disposal - from 11.6% to 14.1%. By 2024, processing should be 50%, and the share of recycling - 15%.

RBC sent requests to the Ministry of Finance and the government.

What environmental costs will be reduced

According to the materials for the draft federal budget for 2023–2025, the halving of expenses for the Integrated Municipal Solid Waste Management System is due to a decrease in budget allocations for the provision of property contributions to the REO, as well as VEB.RF to compensate for lost income on loans that involve the structures of RT-Invest in the construction of waste incineration plants.

The property contribution to the REO, which was created in 2019, is necessary to finance investment projects aimed at putting into commercial operation capacities for sorting, recycling and placing municipal solid waste. It is planned that in 2023-2024 the government will reduce it by 5.1 billion and 11.6 billion rubles. respectively, follows from the document. But it does not say to what level these tranches will be reduced. According to the budget law adopted at the end of 2021, the property contribution to the capital of the REO in 2022 was to be 5.5 billion rubles, in 2023 - 3.1 billion rubles, in 2024 - 1.4 billion rub. But then the allocation of these funds could be reviewed.

The contribution to VEB in 2023 is proposed to be reduced by 3.8 billion rubles, in 2024 - by 1.18 billion rubles. In 2020, this state corporation, together with other banks, agreed to issue a loan to Rostec's subsidiary, RT-Invest, for 110 billion rubles. for the construction of four waste incineration plants in the Moscow region (in the Voskresensky, Bogorodsky, Naro-Fominsk and Solnechnogorsk districts). The property contribution helps subsidize the interest rate on this loan.

In addition to four plants in the Moscow region, RT-Invest is also building another plant in Kazan. All five plants will burn 3.35 million tons of municipal solid waste per year with electricity generation, and their total capacity should be 355 MW. The volume of investments in this project is 185 billion rubles.

Representatives of VEB and RT-Invest declined to comment. The press service of the REO also found it difficult to comment on the final amount of the property contribution.

How "garbage" projects will be financed

The government is implementing various measures to support the municipal solid waste management industry, recalls a representative of the Ministry of Natural Resources. The redistribution of funds was made taking into account the change in the structure of measures to support the industry, which, with comparable amounts of budget financing, can increase the amount of funds raised, Butsaev emphasizes. According to him, now priority will be given to concessions and green bonds, which means funds raised from the market for environmental projects. In the case of concessions, financial obligations are shared between the investor, regional authorities and the federal center.

In 2021, the REO financed five "junk" projects for a total of 6.1 billion rubles, and by 2024 planned to place green bonds on the stock exchange for 100 billion rubles.

The company has already agreed with leading Russian banks to jointly invest in municipal solid waste management infrastructure through a bond buyback, Butsaev said. Thus, Rosselkhozbank will buy back REO bonds in the amount of 50 billion rubles, Otkritie Bank is considering the possibility of buying back bonds for 10 billion rubles. REO is also negotiating with other financial institutions. In 2023-2024, using the mechanism of subsidizing the key rate on the company's bonds, about 90 billion rubles will be attracted to the industry, says its CEO.

In addition, many mechanisms for improving the environmental situation in the regions are being implemented through a comprehensive change in environmental regulation - tougher penalties for environmental damage, increased responsibility of business owners for eliminating damage, and others, adds Galicheva.

According to the Ministry of Natural Resources, in Russia, where 60 million tons of municipal solid waste is generated annually, capacities for processing 18.28 million tons of waste and recycling - 4.63 million tons have already been commissioned. Two more are under construction and are planned for commissioning in 2022. 85 million tons of processing capacity and 744 thousand tons - for disposal.

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