The meeting of Steering Committee of UNIDO/GEF Project “Environmentally sound management and final disposal of PCBs at the Russian railway network and other PCBs owners”

December 22, 2017

Moscow, 19th December 2017 — the Steering Committee of UNIDO/GEF Project “Environmentally sound management and final disposal of PCBs at the Russian Railways network and other PCBs owners” took place in the Center for Scientific and Technical Information of Russian Railways.

Steering Committee, chaired by the Director of UNIDO CIIC in Russia Mr. S. Korotkov, was attended by the representatives of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation, the Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources (Rosprirodnadzor), the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation, the N.N. Vorozhtsov Novosibirsk Institute of Organic Chemistry of Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, which was appointed as National Coordination Centre for the Stockholm Convention on POPs, as well as the counterparts of the Project – representatives of “Russian Railways” LLC, Gubkin Russian State Oil and Gas University, representative of FSBI “Russian Energy Agency” by the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation and SUE “Vodokanal of St. Petersburg”.

The Senior Advisor to the Director General of “Russian Railways” LLC Mr. V. Gapanovich mentioned that activities within the Project framework are especially important for Russian Railways because the company makes a great emphasis on environmental management and always tries to improve its policy concerning mitigation of environmental impact.

Mr. S. Korotkov described the on-going state of the Project and presented main achievements within each project component. He specifically mentioned the Implementation Plan under the Stockholm Convention on POPs, adoption of which gave a new boost to the Project and took it to the next level.

The Deputy Head of the Division of International Conventions of the Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation Mr. P. Shirokov briefly enlightened main objectives of the adopted Implementation Plan. He also mentioned that PCBs hazard is beyond dispute that’s why the Ministry of Natural Recourses and Ecology of the Russian Federation always supported and will support UNIDO-RZD Project. The Project makes obvious that legislation improvement should be done.

The Head of the Department of the State supervision and regulation in the area of waste management and biodiversity of the Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources (Rosprirodnadzor) Ms. N. Sokolova informed that within the Year of Ecology, the President of Russia released the Order concerning the management of I and II hazard categories wastes and now work with such substances has special attention of the Presidential Control Directorate. This Order describes the work on legislation improvement in the part of environmentally sound management of hazardous wastes and Rosprirodnadzor has already sent a number of amendments concerning PCBs disposal to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of Russia.

Mr. V. Gapanovich enlightened main directions of Russian Railways activities within the Project, mentioned a successful operations of facilities for thermal treatment of wastes at Tagul station and Yaroslavl.

Project coordinator Mr. M. Nikiforov told that significant short comings that prevent the implementation of Stockholm convention on POPs in Russia, have been brought to light while analyzing Russian and the Customs Union countries’ legislation. Following the results of a large number of negotiations and consultations with various interested departments, the project team prepared drafts on amending the legislation, and decisions are currently expected on their adoption.

National consultant Mr. I. Seregin in his speech informed about the main equipment and services procured under the Project this year. He also mentioned that several letters of appreciation were received from the Ministries and authorities for the contribution to raising public awareness among PCBs owners and the staff of the federal and regional government agencies.

During lively discussion at the end of the Steering Committee were defined further activities within the Project. The participants appreciated the efforts of the Project’s counterparts in implementation of the provisions of Stockholm convention on POPs and expressed their hope for the further successful continuation of the Project.