OREANDA-NEWS. November 11, 2009. Two important events devoted to environmental problems took place in Almaty: WasteTech Central Asia 2009, the 1st Central Asian International Conference on Waste Treatment Industry Promotion in Kazakhstan and International Waste Management Expertise, and EcoTech 2009, the 5th Anniversary Central Asian International Exhibition for EcoTechnologies and EcoServices for Municipal Sectors.

The events were organised by the Kazakhstani exhibition company Iteca, in cooperation with the Kazakhstan Business Association for Sustainable Development (KBASD) and the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA). Official support for the project was provided by the Ministry of Environmental Protection of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Almaty City Akimat and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

EcoTech 2009 once again became a platform for discussing all the pressing environmental problems, presenting the latest environmental technologies, discussing joint projects and signing contracts. The exhibition included more than 40 companies from 10 countries: the UK, Germany, Hungary, Kazakhstan, China, Russia, the USA, Ukraine, the Czech Republic and Estonia. The following companies presented various solutions for environmental problems: ATARFIL Geomembranes, CRYSTEC, Needlona ®, TESLA, SSI SCHAFER, Solmax and GSE, Imabe Iberica, LEISTER (Switzerland), ROTHENBERGER (Germany), Membrane Technologies, BASF, Flottweg, Johann Rohrer, PALL, EcoSir Group Oy, TANA Oy, Terra-Select, Tourmaline, SEEA, MeWa, GE Water and others.

For the second consecutive year, the general sponsor of the exhibition was KazMunaiGaz Exploration Production (KMG EP), the country’s leading producer of hydrocarbons; the bronze sponsor was Tengizchevroil (TCO). These companies demonstrated their environmental programmes. According to the Director of the Environmental Protection Department of KMG EP, Ruslan Adiyev, funding for the company’s environmental programmes has increased nine-fold, amounting to almost 8.5 billion tenge.

The diverse programme of events attracted leading experts and presented the latest scientific developments and future projects. Experts from Methane-to-Markets (USA) led a technical seminar on the commercial use of methane and biogas from landfills. There were also seminars on “Establishing a Uniform Information System for Production Waste Management in the Republic of Kazakhstan” and “Implementation of Separate Waste Collection in the Republic of Kazakhstan”; and two round tables organised by KBASD and the Centre of Cooperation for Sustainable Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan on “Waste Management Regulation in Kazakhstan. Improvement, Problems and Perspectives” and “Improving the Regulatory Framework for Waste Management”. Vtorma Ecology Co organised an excursion to a waste processing plant, which many of the visitors from Kazakhstan and Central Asia went on.

For the first time at EcoTech, there was a display of children’s pictures from the finalists of the Children’s Republican Environmental Creative Works Competition, which was organised by EcoIDEA with the Regional Environmental Centre for Central Asia in 2009 to draw the attention of children and young people to existing environmental problems and to encourage talented children who are interested in environmental work.

Another noteworthy event at the exhibition was the premier of a film called “Home” by the world famous aerial photographer Yanna Arthus-Bertrand and the cult film director Luc Besson. The idea of the film is simple: everything in our world is interconnected, irrespective of the continent and city in which we live; we are all residents of one planet. The film was presented by the charitable foundation “Environment and World” (Moscow).

The 1st Central Asian International Conference on Waste Treatment Industry Promotion in Kazakhstan and International Waste Management Expertise took place alongside EcoTech with the support and participation of the Ministry of Environmental Protection of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and the Kazakhstan Business Association for Sustainable Development (KBASD). It was attended by 120 delegates. The main issues discussed included: waste management as a contribution to the further prosperity of Kazakhstan; the potential for the development of the waste treatment industry; the integrated use of recycled resources and waste in the extractive industries; waste as a source of energy: biogas, methane, sulphur; and resource and energy saving.

“The problem of waste management is extremely important for large businesses in the country and, in particular, for companies in the mining and smelting sector, as they are the largest sources of industrial waste,” said Gulsara Yedilbayeva, the Executive Director of KBASD, and Chairwoman of the plenary session “Integrated use of recycled resources and waste in the extractive industries”. In her talk, Ms. Yedilbayeva stressed that the work done by the Parliament of Kazakhstan and the Ministry of Environmental Protection to establish policies and legislative frameworks for production waste management, and the special conference on waste held during the EcoTech exhibition, would accelerate the use of management approaches in the industry in dealing with environmental issues.

In his talk, the Chairman of the Environmental Management and Control Committee of the Ministry of Environmental Protection of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Adletbek Bekeev, said: “In his message to the people ‘Through crisis to renewal and development’, the President drew attention to the fact that wastefulness must be replaced by sensible consumption and savings.” The ministry representative also stressed that today production and consumption waste are one of the most pressing environmental problems in the Republic of Kazakhstan, and their annual volume in Kazakhstan amounts to 20 billion tons, of which 18 billion tons are in the mining and smelting industry. In total, about 200 million tons of waste per year are currently utilised in Kazakhstan. Adletbek Bekeev also highlighted the fact that municipal solid waste (MSW) processing is not developing, although the regional, Astana and Almaty Akimats have formulated regional programmes to manage solid household waste. However, these programmes primarily involve the construction of new MSW landfills, and the elimination of unauthorised dumps with recultivation of the disturbed land. Given that the composition of MSW is about 50% recycled materials, Adletbek Bekeev underlined the need to actively develop recycling.

The Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Management (ONREM) of Almaty announced that the issue of removing household garbage is gradually being solved. “Previously, in Almaty, there were a mass of waste removal organisations that did not carry out their functions very well. This year, there are 32 such organisations in Almaty. They face tougher requirements: they must have contracts for servicing of containers, their own operations base, and specialised waste removal equipment,” said the Head of the Department of Environmental Information at ONREM of Almaty, Naziya Aukhinova. In order to bring waste collection technology up to modern requirements, the Office has developed a pilot project on the example of Alatau District, which follows similar schemes in European countries: the installation of underground Ecosir containers. The use of containers of this type makes it possible to increase the number by 3-5 times, compared with containers located above ground, increases the life of the container fivefold and significantly improves the architectural image of areas.

The general sponsor of the conference was one of the world’s leading natural resources companies, ENRC. The bronze sponsors were Tengizchevroil and OLZHAS.

In 2010, Iteca will organise several environmental events. EcoTech 2010, the 6th Central Asian International Exhibition for EcoTechnologies and EcoServices for Municipal Sectors, will take place on 15-17 September. WaterTech Central Asia 2010, the 2nd Central Asian International Water Technology Exhibition and Conference, will be held on 1-4 November.