EBRD helps establish first regional waste management company in Belarus

The first regional solid waste management company to be established in Belarus. It will be supported by a financing package of up to €7 million from the EBRD and the Eastern European Environment and Energy Efficiency Partnership (“E5P”). The first landfill to be built and operated in accordance with the EU Landfill Directive.

The EBRD is providing a sovereign loan of up to €5 million to a new solid waste management company, which will be established by the Minsk oblast in Belarus for the Puhovichi and Cherven districts.

The loan will be used to finance the introduction of a modern solid waste management system covering the collection and disposal of municipal solid waste in the area.

The project, which is in line with the EBRD’s Green Economy Transition strategy, will also help improve governance standards in the municipal utilities sector through the establishment of the first regional solid waste management company in the country.

The loan will be co-financed by a donor grant for the amount of up to €2 million from E5P[1].

The project will help establish the first landfill in Belarus to be designed, built and operated in accordance with the EU Landfill Directive. It will offer major environmental and social benefits for the old market towns of Puhovichi and Cherven, first mentioned in the XIV-XV centuries, and the two associated districts.

Technical support for project preparation was provided by the government of the Czech Republic.Since the start of its operations in Belarus in 1992, the EBRD has invested over €2 billion in 95 projects in various sectors of the country's economy.

[1] The Eastern Europe Energy Efficiency and Environment Partnership (E5P) is a €180 million multi-donor fund managed by the EBRD and designed to promote energy efficiency investments in the eastern European countries. The fund was established under an initiative of the Swedish government during its presidency of the European Union.

(EU) in 2009. E5P complements energy efficiency loans provided by financial institutions including the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank, KfW, the Nordic Environment Finance Corporation and the World Bank Group. Contributors to E5P are the EU and the US, as well as Armenia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic, Sweden, Ukraine and Belarus.