Belarus implements a project to destroy obsolete pesticides

"The topic of persistent organic pollutants is relevant all over the world, since they pose a serious threat to humans and the environment. In Belarus, a significant part of POPs - polychlorinated biphenyls - is contained in old electrical equipment, for example, in transformers and capacitors manufactured in the Soviet Union. Today, in There are more than 500 enterprises in the country that own equipment containing PCBs, its total weight is more than 3,000 tons. .

Belarus has been a party to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants since 2004. This document defines the international requirements for the handling of POPs.

As Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Alexander Korbut emphasized during the introductory seminar for project participants, Belarus consistently fulfills its obligations. "This is, first of all, the decommissioning of equipment containing PCBs by 2025 and its environmentally safe disposal by 2028. The next step towards this goal is the implementation of an international technical assistance project," he said.

One of the main goals of the project is the environmentally safe destruction of the stocks of POPs available in Belarus and the development of capacity in the field of sustainable management of them.

In 2021, about 700 tons of obsolete pesticides stored in the warehouses of agricultural organizations in the Vitebsk and Grodno regions will be removed. The Service Provider will ensure the repackaging, cross-border transport and environmentally sound disposal of these hazardous wastes.

The international technical assistance project "Sustainable Management of Persistent Organic Pollutants and Chemicals in Belarus, GEF-6" is implemented by the Ministry of Natural Resources in cooperation with the United Nations Development Program in Belarus and financed by the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

Unusable pesticides - hazardous waste in the form of plant protection products that are banned for use, expired or otherwise unusable. Some of their types (for example, organochlorine and mercury-containing ones) are classified as persistent organic pollutants and are prohibited by the Stockholm Convention on POPs. Unusable pesticides pose a real threat to the environment and human HEALTH, are characterized by high toxicity, the ability to accumulate in the tissues of living organisms and be transported over long distances.