A landfill near a village in Mykolaiv region turned out to be illegal

The landfill near the village of Berezneguvate in Bashtanka district of Mykolaiv region has been operating illegally for years. For 13 years, the village council has not been able to draw up documents for the land that the community actually uses as a landfill.

According to the State Ecological Inspectorate of the Southwestern District, the inspection revealed that the four-hectare landfill was operating without proper title documents. Although the local authorities received permission to develop a land management project back in 2012, no further steps were taken.

Due to the prolonged inaction, the prosecutor's office went to court. On April 7, 2025, the court declared the actions (or rather, inaction) of the Bereznehuvata village council illegal and ordered it to immediately issue all the necessary land documents.

Meanwhile, a tender is underway in Mykolaiv to select a company that will sort waste. At the first stage, a bidder has already been selected and will be further evaluated by a commission. The minimum passing score is 40 out of 75. The final decision will be made by the city council. If the winner is approved, all of the city's household waste will go to the sorting line: some will be recycled, and up to 30% will go to the landfill.

The landfill that accepts municipal waste is located on the territory of Vesnianske village council in Mykolaiv district. It was commissioned in 1972 and is expected to operate for 50 years until 2022.

Senkevych approved an action plan to address the city's environmental problems in late January. As the city council delayed the construction of the sorting station, the Supreme Court of Ukraine ordered the deputies to take the necessary measures and imposed a fine of 5,100 hryvnias on the Mykolaiv City Council.

These measures included holding competitions, tenders, and approving the necessary project documentation. The possibility of allocating a land plot outside the city for the construction of a new landfill was considered.

In March, the executive committee reallocated funds to develop a feasibility study for a waste treatment plant, and in September, the human rights commission discussed the creation of a complex for sorting household waste. In October 2024, a tender was announced to select a contractor to build the sorting station.

The lawsuit against the city council was filed due to the failure to implement the targeted household waste management program adopted in 2019, which caused the landfill, which had been operating since 1972, to exhaust its resources in 2022.

Ірина Глухова