Since the summer of 2025, Hrazdan sanitary landfill site has been in operation. It is designed to serve 16 communities in the Kotayk and Gegharkunik Regions. The landfill site is operated by “Kotayk and Gegharkunik Solid Waste Management” LLC, established by those communities.
During an awareness event organized by EcoLur in Abovyan on “Informing and Supporting Introduction of Extended Producer Responsibility System in Armenia for Healthy Environment”, Director of “Kotayk and Gegharkunik Solid Waste Management” LLC, Sergey Hambardzumyan, presented the company’s activities.
Abovyan is one of the founding communities of the LLC. However, according to Hambardzumyan, the company will begin providing services there starting in the spring of 2026.
Press Secretary of Abovyan Municipality, Roza Naltakyan, noted that they are satisfied with the current waste collection system operating in Abovyan. They want to be confident that the new system will ensure high-quality service.
Sergey Hambardzumyan emphasized that “Kotayk and Gegharkunik Solid Waste Management” LLC also belongs to Abovyan. Legally, while Abovyan has so far carried out waste collection through its municipal utility unit, at a certain point this function will be transferred to another company - namely, “Kotayk and Gegharkunik Solid Waste Management” LLC.
Hambardzumyan also stated that within the framework of operating the Hrazdan sanitary landfill site, municipal utility services in the communities will be dissolved by 99-100 percent.
Deputy Head of Municipal Utilities Department of Abovyan Municipality, Armen Simonyan, said that as a result of the operation of Hrazdan sanitary landfill site, approximately 25-30 landfill sites across Gegharkunik and Kotayk Regions will cease to operate. Closing landfill sites is more expensive than constructing them.
“I assure you that no community can resolve the issue of closing these landfill sites with its own financial or technical resources,” Armen Simonyan noted.
Responding to this, Sergey Hambardzumyan noted that back in 2016, when loan funds were secured, the Government assumed such an obligation, but no financial resources have been allocated so far.
Emil Mkrtchyan, expert of “Waste Policy in Armenia” program, stated that for the closure of landfill sites, the AUA Acopian Center for the Environment, in cooperation with Stepanavan Municipality, has invited an international expert to assess how much landfill site closure would cost the community.
The issue was also raised by Deputy President of EcoLur Informational NGO, Victoria Burnazyan, during the inaugural meeting of the Public Council adjunct to the Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure on February 24, 2025. Minister Davit Khudatyan stated that they plan to close old landfill sites through grant funding, as well as state and community budget resources.
This material was created within “Waste Policy Armenia” (WPA) program, funded by Sweden and implemented by the AUA Acopian Center for the Environment, with financial support from Sweden and technical support from AUA.
The views, conclusions, and opinions presented belong to the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the program, the American University of Armenia, or the Government of Sweden.
March 03, 2026 at 18:08