EcoLur Informational NGO, with the support of the People Powered Global Hub for Participatory Democracy and in cooperation with Yerevan Municipality, implemented "Civil Society Becomes an Active Participant in Yerevan’s Green Transition’" project. Within its framework, a roundtable titled "Yerevan Solid Waste Management and Landfill Sites" was organized.
Participants in the roundtable included Amalya Hambardzumyan, President of “Khazer” NGO, expert Aram Gabrielyan, Knarik Grigoryan, expert from “Armenian Women for Health and a Healthy Environment” and “Khazer” NGO, Dana Vergilyush, Head of “Green Green” Eco-Center, Vahan Gharibyan, Director and Co-founder of “AM-Eska” company, Harutyun Alpetyan, expert at the American University of Armenia’s Acopian Center for the Environment, Artur Chobanyan, Director of Marketing and Development at “Vega” company, Nune Avetisyan, journalist at Public Radio, and the EcoLur team.
As a result of the discussion, participants made the following recommendations:
- Define the legal definitions of terms used in waste management such as “sorting,” “hazardous waste,” and other key terms;
- Tighten producer responsibility to ensure the proper disposal of packaging;
- Create incentive mechanisms for waste recycling;
- Introduce the use of underground waste bins;
- Organize waste sorting, ensuring the process is genuinely and effectively implemented;
- Develop and implement technologies for energy generation from waste;
- Raise public awareness on waste management, starting from kindergarten age;
- Recycling and sorting of waste are costly processes and should be financed from waste collection fees and financial resources derived from extended producer responsibility;
- Address the issue of waste collection in semi-demolished areas, including those whose owners are abroad and where municipal employees cannot access the premises;
- Clean up slopes where it is difficult to bring heavy equipment, but where solutions are still needed;
- Develop solutions for waste collection in narrow and hard-to-access streets;
- Apply strict administrative control and sanctions in the sector, for example, when bins are broken or sorted waste is stolen;
- Programs adopted in this sector should be discussed with specialists to improve and make them more effective.
June 11, 2025 at 15:42