State policy in the sphere of waste management

Abstract

The article is devoted to the political aspects of waste management. The present situation with production and consumption wastes is presented in existing economic, legal and moral-psychological mechanisms for implementing environmental policy are shown. State interest to the problem of waste became evident only towards the end of the 19th century when schemes of collection, removal, and burial of waste in landfills began to appear in cities. This system actually remained unchanged until the present day, and only now its modernization begins. The specifics of state policy in the sphere of management of municipal waste are considered. The quantity of waste has increased sharply; it was necessary to allocate huge territories for their burial. In addition, the composition of waste has changed significantly. When minerals are mined, mineral substances that are not typical for a given area are taken out to the surface, and municipal waste began to contain a noticeable percentage of artificially created substances, especially plastics. Thus, waste became the most important polluter of the environment, its influence on public health significantly increased. Ecological prerequisites for the emergence, social discontent and even conflicts, which are beginning to acquire political character, are shown. The activity of the authorities on the implementation of environmental policy is disclosed; its priorities and hierarchy of tasks to be solved in this area are also described. Bottlenecks in the eco-political line of the state are indicated. It is noted, that those who make economic decisions often ignore the political aspect of the problem. The activity of the executive authorities on the implementation of the main requirements of state environmental policy is demonstrated.