The Republic of Armenia Waste Quantity and Composition Study March 2020 Study by LL Bolagen Contents 1. Introduction and background 10 1.1 Armenia towards sustainable SWM 10 1.2 Main project objectives 10 1.3 Project methodology 11 1.4 General information on the Republic of Armenia 12 1.5 Previous studies on waste management 14 1.6 Waste statistics – a big challenge 16 2. Municipal waste 17 2.1 Definition 17 2.2 Existing situation and previous estimates 18 2.3 Guidelines and methodology for quantification of MSW 25 2.4 Guidelines and methodology for municipal waste composition analysis (WCA) 26 2.5 Approach and methodology of WCA in Armenia 29 2.6 Analysis of the test results in Yerevan and other cities 32 3. Bulky waste 40 3.1 Definition of bulky waste 40 3.2 Existing situation and data 40 3.3 Guidelines and methodology for bulky waste inventory 40 4. Construction and demolition waste 41 4.1 Definitions 41 4.2 Existing situation and data 41 4.3 Guidelines and methodology for waste inventory of CDW 43 5. Automotive waste 44 5.1 Definition of automotive waste 44 5.2 Existing situation and data 45 5.3 Guidelines and methodology for waste inventory 46 6. Industrial waste 47 6.1 Definition 47 6.2 Existing situation and data 47 6.3 Guidelines and methodology for waste inventory 48 7. Electric and electronic waste (E-waste or WEEE) 49 7.1 Definitions 49 7.2 Existing situation and data 49 Republic of Armenia Page 2 of 136 Waste Quantity and Composition Study (March 2020) 7.3 Guidelines and methodology for WEEE inventory 49 8. Healthcare waste 50 8.1 Definitions 50 8.2 Existing situation and data 50 8.3 Guidelines and methodology for waste inventory 52 9. Other hazardous waste 52 9.1 Definition 52 9.2 Existing situation and data 52 9.3 Guidelines and methodology for waste inventory 53 10. Agricultural and horticultural waste 53 10.1 Definition of agricultural waste 53 10.2 Existing situation and data 54 10.3 Guidelines and methodology for agricultural waste inventory 54 11. Landfills and dumpsites 55 11.1 Definitions 55 11.2 Field visits undertaken 57 11.3 Assessment of the existing situation 60 12. Business models 60 12.1 General 60 12.2 Municipal companies 61 12.3 Municipal jointly owned companies 61 12.4 Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) 61 13. Recommendations and action plan for improvement of waste management 62 13.1 Introduction 62 13.2 Municipal waste collection 62 13.3 Reuse and recycling 65 13.4 Bulky waste 68 13.5 Construction and demolition waste 69 13.6 Automotive waste 73 13.7 Industrial waste 74 13.8 E-waste 74 13.9 Healthcare waste 75 13.10 Other hazardous waste 76 13.11 Agricultural waste 77 13.12 Treatment of organic waste 78 13.13 Landfilling 81 13.14 Business models 84 Republic of Armenia Page 3 of 136 Waste Quantity and Composition Study (March 2020) 13.15 Institutional and organizational aspects 85 13.16 Capacity development 86 13.17 Socio-economic and environmental risks 88 14. Final conclusions and the way forward 90 APPENDICES Appendix 1 - WASTE COMPOSTION ANALYSIS METHODOLOGY 93 Appendix 2 - WASTE COMPOSTION ANALYSIS TESTS IN YEREVAN 108 Appendix 3 - WASTE COMPOSTION ANALYSIS TESTS IN 5 CITIES 113 Appendix 4 - SUMMARY OF ALL WASTE COMPOSTION ANALYSIS TESTS 126 Appendix 5 - DESCRIPTION OF MANUAL SORTING TESTS OF MSW IN YEREVAN 127 Republic of Armenia Page 4 of 136 Waste Quantity and Composition Study (March 2020) Definitions and abbreviations AMD Armenian dram AUA American University of Armenia BAT best available technology CDM Clean Development Mechanism CDW construction and demolition waste CH4 methane gas CO2 carbon dioxide EEE see WEEE ELV End-of-Life vehicles, scrap vehicles EU European Union e-waste See WEEE FLW food loss and waste GDP Gross Domestic Product GHG greenhouse gas, contributing to global warming HCW healthcare waste HZW hazardous waste kton 1,000 ton marz Armenian province (with the province council marzpetaran) MTAI Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure MSW Municipal solid waste PET polyethylene terephthalate, light-weight plastic commonly used for liquid bottles PPP Public Private Partnership RA Republic of Armenia SWM Solid waste management t or ton metric ton (tonne), i.e. 1,000 kg USD US dollars WB World Bank WCA Waste Composition Analysis WEEE Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Citing this report LL Bolagen. (2020). The Republic of Armenia Waste Quantity and Composition Study. Yerevan: AUA Acopian Center for the Environment and AUA Manoogian-Simone Research Fund, American University of Armenia. Project website https://ace.aua.am/waste/wqcs Republic of Armenia Page 5 of 136 Waste Quantity and Composition Study (March 2020) Acknowledgement The Consultant Team wishes to express its appreciation to the Client for the constructive and close cooperation that has characterized this Project throughout, and particularly to the Director Mr. Alen Amirkhanian and the Project Manager Mr. Harutyun Alpetyan of the American University of Armenia (AUA) Acopian Center for the Environment, as well as the Government of Armenia through Ms. Narine Avetyan, Head of Territorial Investment Policy and Infrastructure Development Department, and Mr. Davit Shindyan, SWM Expert at the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure (MTAI). The Project has also been supervised and supported by the Interagency Working Group Coordinating Country’s Waste Management Activities, formerly headed by Mr. Arsen Gasparyan, then advisor to the Prime Minister of Armenia. The Project Team has been blessed with the participation of a very skilled local team for the Waste Composition Analysis (WCA) headed by Mr. Artak Khachatryan, Ministry of Environment for the part on sorting and analysis, and Mr. Argishti Tigranyan and Mr. Hrach Sargsyan for the waste sample collection. The WCA team also included Mr. Andranik Khachatryan, Mr. Dmitry Sholev and Mr. Gegham Muradyan. The tests in Yerevan have been greatly supported by the new municipal company “Yerevan Waste Removal and Sanitary Cleaning”, including its acting director Mr. Armen Grigoryan, drivers, and waste collection crew. The Project Team is grateful to all other stakeholders - staff at ministries, municipalities, commercial entities, hospitals and clinics, etc. with whom we have had the pleasure to discuss solid waste management in Armenia. The project was financed by the AUA Manoogian-Simone Research Fund (MSRF), which is an innovative funding opportunity aimed at building university research capacity in Armenia to advance economic growth and development of the country based on Government priorities. This report has been developed by the Swedish consulting firm LL Miljökonsult, part of the company group LL Bolagen, which carries out waste collection services and sanitary cleaning in Stockholm, Sweden. The consulting team consisted of Ms. Karin Eberle, TL/SWM Specialist, Mr. Anders Lärkert, SWM Specialist and Ms. Ingrid Håstad SWM Specialist. Figure 1. The WCA team, preparing for sampling and sorting at Nubarashen landfill Republic of Armenia Page 6 of 136 Waste Quantity and Composition Study (March 2020) Executive summary Armenia has struggled for a long time with unsustainable solid waste management practices such as uncontrolled dumpsites and inefficient waste collection, resulting in negative environmental and health impacts and poor management of resources. Now, the new Armenian government is aiming at achieving EU-approximation within the framework of the EU-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and to contribute to Armenia’s commitment to the Sustainability Goals (SDGs) within the Agenda 2030. This includes sustainable and long-term strategic waste management, and some large infrastructure projects on sanitary landfills and capacity development are underway. The need for more reliable data on the quality and quantity of waste in Armenia has been recognized to support the development of a policy and road map on solid waste management based on the principles of circular economy as well as information to potential investors in waste collection, recycling, and energy recovery. In order to support that work, this project “Waste Quantity and Composition Study (WQCS)” has been initiated by the American University of Armenia (AUA) Acopian Center for the Environment in partnership with the Government of Armenia. The study is funded by the AUA Manoogian-Simone Research Fund and has involved a team of three Swedish consultants working closely with the AUA and the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure (MTAI) from May to September 2019. • Three Waste Composition Analyses (WCA) of municipal waste have been carried out in Yerevan as well as training of a local WCA team. The team has continued to carry out 12 more WCA in Ararat, Gyumri, Hrazdan, Kapan and Vanadzor. • Data have been collected through field visits to Armenian cities, landfills, hospitals and other sites, and interviews with stakeholders. • Two workshops – on Hazardous waste and WEEE, and Strategic Waste Management – have been carried out. The latter included a presentation of the WCA results and preliminary findings. The WCA methodology included sorting municipal solid waste into 22 waste fractions by hand from samples taken from residential and commercial areas. Every test included collecting ca 50 bins or up to 4 tons with a truck, mixing the waste and taking out 5 sub-samples amounting to a total of 500 kg. Some of the main findings and recommendations from the WCA are the following: • Over 50% (weight) of the MSW is organic (kitchen and garden waste) and should not be landfilled to avoid spontaneous gas fires and methane emissions but tapped as a resource. • There is basically no newspaper and the amount of paper and cardboard varies from 2-ca 10%. Plastic packaging is more dominant, especially soft plastics up to 20% in Yerevan. The material is of poor quality as it is soiled, so recycling will require segregation at source.