REPUBLIC OF BELARUS Public Disclosure Authorized INTEGRATED SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT PROJECT Component I: Mechanical Waste Separation Facility in the City of Grodno Public Disclosure Authorized ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSEMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PLAN FINAL REPORT JANUARY, 2010 Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION 14 1.1. Objectives and Scope of the Environmental Assessment 14 1.2. Background of Proposed Investments 14 1.3. General Description of the Proposed Facility 15 2. LEGISLATIVE AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORK 17 3. DESCRIPTION OF THE BASELINE ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITION IN THE PROJECT AREA 19 3.1. Environmental Aspects 19 3.1.1. Description of the geographic location of the proposed facility 19 3.1.2. Climate 19 3.1.3. Air Pollution 19 3.1.4. Landscape, geological and lithological structure 21 3.1.5. Soils 22 3.1.6. Hydrography and hydrology 22 3.1.7. Surface waters 23 3.1.8. Vegetation 26 3.1.9. Wildlife 27 3.2. General overview of environmental media resistance to anthropogenic impacts 28 3.3. Socioeconomic Context 30 3.3.1. Economic situation 30 3.3.2. Demographic situation 30 3.3.3. Morbidity patterns 31 4. ASSESSMENT OF POTENTIAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF THE PROPOSED INVESTMENTS 33 4.1. Air Impact Assessment 33 4.1.1. Description of air pollution sources 33 4.1.2. Assessment of impact in terms of ground level concentrations. Area of influence 37 4.1.3. Gross emissions 41 4.2. Assessment of Impact on Surface and Ground Waters 41 4.2.1. Description of surface and ground water pollution sources 41 4.2.2. Analysis of impact 42 4.3. Assessment of Impact on Soils, Vegetation and Wildlife 42 4.4. Assessment of Physical Factors’ Impact 44 4.5. Assessment of Impact on Socioeconomic Situation in the District 44 2 4.6. Assessment of Potential Emergencies 48 5. ASSESSMENT OF PROJECT ALTERNATIVES 48 5.1. “Not Having a Project” 48 5.2. Alternative Technologies 48 5.3. Alternative Project Site Locations 51 5.4. Conclusions of the Analysis of Alternatives 51 6. ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PLAN 51 7. PUBLIC CONSULTATIONS 59 8. SUMMARY OF EIA CONCLUSIONS 59 9. REFERENCES 60 Annexes: Annex А Letter of the Republican Center for Radiation Control and Monitoring №10-05/100 dated 21 January 2008 on background concentrations and estimated meteorological parameters Annex B Situational plan (1:5000) Annex C Institutional structure of municipal solid waste management in the Republic of Belarus Annex D Situational plan (1:5000): Alternative location of the facility Annex E Public consultations Tables: Table 1.1: Key products and by-products of the mechanical separation .................................. 16 Table 3.1: Annual average wind rose ....................................................................................... 19 Table 3.2: Composition of emissions from stationary sources in Grodno in 2006 .................. 20 Table 3.3: Average and maximum one-time concentrations of air pollutants in Grodno in 2007.......................................................................................................................................... 20 Table 3.4: Water quality in the Niemen river (by main ingredients and parameters) in 2002- 06.............................................................................................................................................. 25 Table 3.5: Condition of surface waters and bottom sediment in the Niemen river by hydro- biological parameters in 2006 .................................................................................................. 25 Table 3.6: Wild hoofed mammals and wolfs in the Grodno Oblast ........................................ 28 Table 3.7: Background concentrations of air pollutants in Grodno ........................................ 29 Table 3.8: Main demographic parameters in Grodno .............................................................. 30 3 Table 3.9: Age structure of the Grodno population ................................................................. 31 Table 3.10: General morbidity patterns in 2006 ...................................................................... 31 Table 3.11. Death rate by causes .............................................................................................. 32 Table 4.1: Emission sources parameters .................................................................................. 35 Table 4.2: Description of admixtures and summation groups ................................................. 37 Table 4.3: Maximum ground level concentrations of pollutants ............................................. 38 Table 4.4: Estimation of the average annual concentrations.................................................... 39 Table 4.5: Maximum allowable emissions .............................................................................. 41 Table 4.6: Allowable nitrogen and sulfur dioxides concentrations in the air for selected plants .................................................................................................................................................. 43 Table 4.7: Temporary norms of maximum allowable concentration of air pollutants for wood species of “Yasanya Polyana” Museum Estate ........................................................................ 43 Table 4.8: Description of toxicity of pollutants content of emissions from the proposed facility ...................................................................................................................................... 45 Table 4.9: Estimation of the aggregate pollution indicator ...................................................... 47 Table 6.1: Risk Mitigation Plan ............................................................................................... 53 Table 6.2 Monitoring Plan ....................................................................................................... 56 Table: Calculated background air pollution concentrations in the vicinity of Tumashi .......... 62 Table: Meteorological characteristics and coefficients determining conditions for atmospheric dispersion of pollutants ............................................................................................................ 62 Figures: Figure 1.1: Municipal waste generation in Belarus during 1995-2005 .................................... 14 Figure 3.1: Air pollution in Grodno ........................................................................................ 21 Figure 3.3: Water pollution index along the Niemen river stream in 2002-2006 ................... 24 Figure 3.3: Surface water pollution in the Niemen river basin ................................................ 25 by hydrochemical parameters in 2005-2006 ............................................................................ 25 4 Executive Summary Introduction Solid waste management is an important problem and priority in urban areas in many countries. This is the case in Belarus where cities are facing increasing quantities of solid waste generated from varied residential, commercial and industrial sources. While most cities in Belarus provide generally effective core collection and disposal services, the national policy defined in the Law “On Waste Management” (2008) directs that a greater emphasis needs to be placed on the recovery of materials and energy from solid waste streams provided that environmental requirements are met and that economic efficiency considerations are also taken into account. Although solid waste component source separation and capture for recycling in Belarus has been limited to date, the country is advancing the National Program for Municipal Solid Waste Management that also seeks to increase the level of source separation and independent collection of separated materials (such as paper, plastic and metal) to increase the recycling rate throughout the country. This direction is consistent with sound practice throughout the world where much is being done to divert solid waste components from disposal facilities thereby increasing their life expectancy and decreasing their potential environmental impacts. Three methods of municipal solid waste collection is currently employed in Grodno, the location of the subject proposed Bank-financed project: container (78%), manual (14%) and apartment-level collection (8%). There are 165 container grounds arranged in the multi-storey housing area, 64 in individual houses area and 261 on the territory of garage cooperatives. There are 72 industrial enterprises in the city which also collect waste in containers. As of 1 October 2009, a total of 9,774 contracts for municipal solid waste removal were concluded. 34 route charts have been prepared for 41 refuse trucks for waste transportation to the municipal solid waste landfill. About 3,347 thousand m3 of waste were deposited in the city landfill during January 2005 – September 2009. Proposed Project Objective The main development objective of the project is to improve environmental benefits of integrated solid waste management in Grodno through recovery and reuse of recyclable materials in line with good international standards. The objective will be achieved by reducing the volume of waste that is disposed in landfills and reusing valuable recycled materials efficiently. The project will support important elements of Grodno’s Integrated Solid Waste Management Program. Project Description and Location The proposed project will consist of components that will cover investments targeting the construction