An ambiguous situation has developed in the country in the field of solid municipal waste (MSW) management, and the Kursk region is no exception. Seeing numerous statements by officials at various levels that the “garbage reform” initiated by the Government of the Russian Federation has actually reached a dead end, I decided to investigate in detail the state of affairs with MSW management in our region
First of all, I was interested in exactly what circumstances affect the size of the service fee for MSW management and whether it is possible to achieve its reduction. The topic turned out to be quite extensive and the lawyer Boris Kelekhsaev helped me to understand all the variety of regulatory provisions, by this time he had already had time to deeply research this topic.
Garbage arithmetic
It was found that the amount of payment for this service is made up of a combination of two variables:
a) the value of tariffs for the service of MSW circulation, approved in the Kursk region;
b) the volume of waste transferred to the regional operator.
Many people believe that high tariffs are the main problem in MSW management, but in reality this is only part of the problem. Boris suggested that I focus my attention on the study of issues related to the calculation of the volume of waste, since, based on his experience, most of the speculations are made in relation to this value. This tip was helpful.
As it turned out, the paid volume of transferred waste directly depends on the method of their accumulation. This is due to the fact that with separate accumulation of MSW and with "ordinary" accumulation (without sorting waste into fractions), different calculation formulas are used to determine the volume of waste, which follows from the provisions of clause 148 (30) of the "Rules for the provision of utility services to owners and users of premises in apartment buildings and residential buildings ", approved by the Government of the Russian Federation 354 of 2011-05-06 (hereinafter - Rules 354).
In case of separate accumulation, the volume of accepted waste payable is simplified to the actual volume of containers emptied by the regional operator, and when collecting unsorted waste, the average volume values established by the Committee for Housing and Utilities and the Fuel and Energy Complex of the Kursk region are used to calculate the volume of MSW, referred to as the standards for accumulation of MSW. The volume calculated on the basis of actual values will be closer to reality than the volume calculated using potentially overestimated MSW accumulation standards.
With separate collection, the cost of waste collection services should be lower than with the collection of unsorted waste, so the regoperator has no incentive to rush to introduce it.
Practice in neighboring regions indicates that the standards are often determined in violation of legal regulations, and therefore the volume of MSW calculated with their use cannot be reliable. An example is the case 3a-34/2019, considered by the Lipetsk Regional Court. A judicial act on it was invalidated from the moment of approval of the standard for the accumulation of MSW for manufactured goods stores.
See separate collection? And he is …
Guided by the rich jurisprudence (Resolution of the Arbitration Court of the Central District of December 25, 2019, F10-5960 / 2019 in case A35-10558 / 2018, ruling of the Volga-Vyatka District Arbitration Court of May 27, 2020, F01-9240 / 2020 in case A43 -22180/2019, ruling of the Arbitration Court of the Volga District of 2020-27-05 F06-60881 / 2020 in case A12-30238 / 2019), I came to the conclusion that separate accumulation should be considered organized subject to two conditions:
one. The authorized government body must publish an official act regulating the procedure for separate accumulation (as it turned out, the Kursk region is one of the first subjects of the Russian Federation, in which this regulation was approved almost at the very beginning of the reform of MSW management in the country on the basis of the Order of the same Committee of Housing and Communal Services and TEK 144 dated 05.12.2016).
2. Consumers must sort waste into fractions (for this, it is necessary to have sites for waste accumulation, equipped with specialized containers).
Based on Rules 354 (paragraph 3 of clause 148 (30)), only the implementation of the listed conditions in aggregate will allow the use of formulas for calculating the volume of MSW based on actual volume values (calculation of the volume of MSW based on the volume and number of containers for accumulating MSW).
Taking into account that the necessary legal basis for separate accumulation was prepared by the regional administration four years ago, I decided to find out from the Committee for Housing and Utilities and Fuel and Energy Complex of the Kursk region and JSC "Spetsavtobaza for cleaning the city of Kursk", at what stage is the practical implementation of the project on the separate accumulation of MSW (arrangement of sites, purchase of containers that comply with the regulations established in the field), as well as find out who is responsible for the implementation of the collection of sorted waste. The answers I received were somewhat disorienting.
So, in accordance with paragraph 6 of clause 2.1.4 of the Agreement of 2017-09-10, on the basis of which JSC "Spetsavtobaza for cleaning of Kursk" provides services for the management of MSW to the population, the company is obliged to ensure the phased introduction of separate collection of MSW on the territory of the North -Eastern zone of the Kursk region.
In response to a request, the Special Avtobaza for Cleaning the City of Kursk said that its responsibilities do not include the introduction of a separate accumulation of MSW, and the company does not have information about the stage at which this process is located, while all purchases of containers for separate accumulation were made by the company on a voluntary basis. basis.
In turn, the Committee for Housing and Communal Services and Fuel and Energy Complex of the Kursk region referred that the introduction of separate collection is carried out by the forces of JSC "Special Avtobaza for cleaning the city of Kursk", the company purchased 390 containers and organized a collection point for sorted waste in Sumy, while the acquisition of the necessary equipment is not included in the current maximum tariff for the service of the society, and the responsibility for the arrangement and maintenance of sites for separate accumulation lies with the owners of these sites (that is, we, residents of apartment buildings, represented by HOAs and management companies). It should also be noted that I sent a similar request to the Committee for Housing and Communal Services of the city of Kursk, but I never received a response.
Despite all the ambiguity of the answers received, it nevertheless follows from them that the separate collection of MSW is partially carried out on the territory of Kursk, respectively, there must be consumers who calculate the volume of MSW under contracts with society, using the formulas established with the separate accumulation of MSW, so I sent additional requests for the purpose of official confirmation of such precedents. These consumers must pay less than they used to when they were not able to use separate collection.
Were there any violations when approving accumulation standards?
Taking into account that the separate accumulation of MSW in the Kursk region will not be introduced soon, I decided to find out if there were any violations in the calculation of the standards for accumulation of MSW, according to which the volume of accumulation of MSW is calculated under contracts with consumers in the Kursk region.
I learned that, starting from December 6, 2016 to the present, the Committee for Housing and Utilities and Fuel and Energy Complex of the Kursk region adopted 7 orders, which approved and amended the standards for the accumulation of MSW. Such activity looks rather strange, since according to the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of 04.04.2016 No.269 "On the determination of standards for the accumulation of solid municipal waste" for the determination and subsequent approval of the values of the standard for the accumulation of MSW, annual seasonal natural measurements should be carried out.
I believe that the introduction in each half of the year of amendments to the orders approving the value of the standards for the accumulation of MSW may be associated with both frequent violations during the procedure for measuring standards, and with the desire of the Committee for Housing and Communal Services and the Fuel and Energy Complex of the Kursk region to update the measurement results as much as possible, and to achieve the most accurate determining the values of the standard.
At the same time, the second assumption seems dubious, since in the Order of the Committee for Housing and Communal Services and Fuel and Energy Complex of the Kursk region dated December 17, 2018 No. 229 "On standards for the accumulation of solid municipal waste for the Kursk region" it is directly stated that there were still violations:
"In connection with the identified violations of the legislation of the Russian Federation in determining the standards for the accumulation of solid municipal waste for the Kursk region, in accordance with the resolution of the Governor of the Kursk region of 06.06.2018 N 189-pg" On approval of the Regulations on the Committee for housing and communal services and the fuel and energy complex of the Kursk region " I order … ".
Taking this information into account, I turned to the Committee for Housing and Communal Services and the Fuel and Energy Complex of the Kursk region for clarification, which violations were identified when calculating the standard for the accumulation of MSW in the Kursk region, and what measures were taken to eliminate the consequences of the norms calculated with violations. I believe that in the event of settlements under contracts made on the basis of a normative act issued with violations, at least a recalculation should be made. The answer received from the Committee did not give the necessary understanding.
To my question, which violations in the calculation of the MSW accumulation rate were eliminated by Order 229 of December 17, 2018, the Committee for Housing and Utilities and Fuel and Energy Complex of the Kursk region said: caused by the growth of payments for the service of solid waste management”.
It is nice to realize that the simple dissatisfaction of citizens with a normative act is already perceived by municipal authorities as a violation on their part, but I wanted to get a more specific answer to the question, so I had to send an additional appeal to the Committee of Housing and Utilities and Fuel and Energy Complex of the Kursk region (response to the appeal at the moment did not arrive, the legal deadline for an answer has not expired) with a request to provide for review the documents that accompanied the annual annual in-kind measurements of MSW standards for each of the 7 Orders approving the values of the standard in the Kursk region.
I found the answer of the Committee for Housing and Utilities and Fuel and Energy Complex of the Kursk region less joyful to the question of whether the payment for the service for the management of MSW was recalculated, the volume of which was calculated on the basis of the values of the standards established with violations. The municipal authority explained that despite the existing violations, the standards that were in force before the Order of the Committee for Housing and Utilities and Fuel and Energy Complex of the Kursk Region No. 229 dated December 17, 2018, were not canceled, respectively, no recalculation of fees is expected.
Epilogue
The work on identifying problems and violations will continue, but now it is possible to set the goal of reducing the cost of services for the management of MSW. The territories and the circle of consumers entitled to recalculation will be identified.
Taking into account the analysis of the activity of municipal authorities and the regional operator in this matter, the prospects for achieving this goal look realistic. Residents of the region will be able to reduce their costs for the MSW management service, and the activities of regional operators will reach a new, higher level of quality.
I invite everyone who is interested in working in this direction to respond and join: together we will accelerate the onset of positive changes.
To be continued…
Author: Vladimir Sinelnikov
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