A new Swedish-Ukrainian multi-year initiative, WM4U- Waste Management for Ukraine, has been launched in Ukraine
On October 11, 2024, the new Swedish-Ukrainian multi-year initiative, WM4U – Waste Management for Ukraine, was officially launched, aimed at supporting Ukraine´s reforms – and adaptation to EU standards - of municipal waste management. The event in Kyiv brought together Ukrainian and Swedish officials, municipal leaders, local government associations, experts, and representatives of various international aid programs.
WM4U – “Waste Management for Ukraine (2024-2027) is one of Sweden's largest development and cooperation initiatives in Ukraine. Responding to the Ukrainian government's appeal for assistance the programme is designed to support Ukraine's reforms of municipal waste management. Funded by Sida, the programme also seeks to align Ukraine's municipal waste management practices with EU standards and rules, with major benefits for environmental sustainability, climate protection and quality of life for Ukrainian citizens. The programme will be implemented by the Swedish Association for Waste and Recycling Management (Avfall Sverige) and SALAR International from 2024 to 2027.
On October 11, 2024, the launch event in Kyiv brought together Ukrainian and Swedish officials, municipal leaders, local government associations, experts, and representatives of various international aid programs.
Urget needs
During the launch several voices emphasised the continued support from Sweden to Ukraine in the Waste Management area.
– Sustainable waste management is one of the priorities of cooperation between Ukraine and Sweden in the recovery and reform programme. It is a great honour for us that Ukraine has identified Sweden as one of the partners in this area, said Martina Quick, Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Sweden to Ukraine, in the opening session of the launch. Quick also reminded that the Programme was launched at the request of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy during his meeting with the Prime Minister of Sweden in Ukraine back in 2022.
Olena Kramarenko, First Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine also welcomed the launch of the new programme:
– We inherited the simplest system of household waste management from the USSR, focused on its complete disposal, withdrawal of huge areas of land from economic use for landfills, pollution of air, groundwater, surface water and soil with hazardous components – this is just one of the consequences of such management. Almost 6,000 landfills and dumpsites do not meet environmental requirements. At the same time, the country's economy loses millions of tonnes of valuable resources: waste paper, paper, polymers, metal, etc. We are changing this paradigm, and Sweden's assistance is very important for us,’ said Olena Kramarenko. This was agreed by Vasyl Shkurakov, First Deputy Minister for Development of Territories and Communities of Ukraine: “Ukrainian communities have a significant demand for improvement in solid waste management, he emphasized.
“Every nation deserves a reliable waste management system”
– The philosophy is that the way a country organizes its waste management reflects its attitude towards people, and the priority given to this issue says something about both people and the nation, said Tony Clark, Managing Director at Avfall Sverige, in the context of which he also expressed that every nation deserves a reliable waste management system. He further stated that his experience shows that both technical solutions and institutional infrastructure is important, as is the way municipalities are organized and how they communicate with their citizens.
Ryan Knox, Managing Director at SALAR International ended the opening words session by expressing his belief into the team and the partners in Ukraine:
– Together, we represent a team that can bring added value in this area to promote reforms, democratic accountability, local service delivery and sustainable local development.
Except from listening to the opening words the participants also learnt more about the programme through a presentation by Pontus Förberg, Programme Manager at SALAR International and Weine Wiqvist, Senior Advisor at Avfall Sverige. This was followed by a Panel Discussion on Waste Management in Ukraine: current status, needs and challenges.
Senast uppdaterad - 2024-10-16