Little dump. Why do residents complain about a bad smell, is it really dangerous and is there a solution to the problem?

Why did the Tbilisi authorities have not yet been able to solve the problem with the gas from the landfill? ↓

In May 2017, the Tbilisi authorities, together with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), prepared a technical and economic justification of the Tbilisi waste management project.

The document (is at the disposal of Paper Kartuli ) says: “Investments in the current landfill Didi Lilo are considered necessary to ensure future operation in accordance with the main standards (EU Directive), gas collection, reconstruction of the wastewater collection and cleaning system should become a priority.”

In 2018, it became known that the Tbilisi City Hall plans to spend approximately 17 million Lari to create a safe and relevant infrastructure on the territory of a landfill in Lilo. “First of all, you should close, preserve the problem cells of the landfill and install gas collection systems,” Kakha Kaladze said then.

A tender for the creation of a gas collection system was announced in 2019. However, none of the companies participating in it corresponded to the necessary criteria. At the same time, at the same time, Tbilservice Group reported that this is a priority project that is being implemented due to the EBRD loan and should start in 2022.

Now Tbilservice Group is carrying out laboratory control of gases, reported by Parki AR Minda. In addition, the capital, with the support of the EBRD, launched the arrangement of the gas collection system at the training ground. This project includes the final coating of waste burial cells and gas collection - methane - from existing or closed cells.

Work on the project is planned to be completed at the end of 2022. At the next stage, a tender will be announced to create a gas collection and gas utilization system in accordance with international rules and conditions. After the tender, the project will begin.

Residents of the village near Tbilisi have been opposing a landfill in Lilo for more than ten years - although this is one of the few Georgian training grounds modernized according to European standards.

Protesters complain of a bad smell from a landfill, reaching residential buildings, and suggest that it causes respiratory diseases. This fall, protests resumed, and people even went to the action.

Paper Kartuli studied Lilo’s landfill, spoke with the co-founder of the Parki AR Minda eco-educational project about the problem of Lilo and tells what you need to know about the problem.

Why is everyone talking about a landfill in Lilo again?

On Facebook, since September 2023, videos under the hashtag #დაიხუროსლილოსნაგავსაყრელი ("Close the landfill"). In these videos, local residents of the village of Didi Lilo, including children , complain about a poor smell from the landfill, and also suggest that the landfill pollutes drinking water and causes respiratory diseases.

“Poisonous waste seeps into the ground, poison underground waters and fall into the water that enters Tbilisi. At 500 meters there is a Samgogorsky channel, which is directly connected to the Tbilisi reservoir and poisons the whole of Tbilisi, ”one of the inhabitants of Didi Lilo told Pirveli to the Pirveli TV channel.

What is this landfill?

The landfill of household waste in Lilo-in the north-east of Tbilisi (GPS Coordinates: X-499064.43; Y-4620415.45), has been working since 2010, the documents of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources of Georgia are indicated . The landfill area is 94 hectares - that is, almost like the entire Mtatsminda park.

The village closest to the landfill - the village of Didi Lilo - is located 1.2 km from the training ground, the Tbilisi airport is 7 km , follows from the documents of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources.

Protesters believe that the training ground is located too close to the airport and settlements. At the same time, according to the Law of Georgia, the landfill should be at least 500 meters from the residential area, and the distance to the airport must comply with the requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), that is, at least 5 km, Paper Kartuli was convinced.

On average, about 1000 tons of household waste are collected daily at the landfill: in the summer of 1200 tons, in winter - 800. According to the document made by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the landfill can contain 350 thousand tons of garbage annually, and its daily norm is 900-1400 tons.

Is it true that the locals are talking about?

Locals have been opposed to a landfill in Lilo since 2013. As now, due to the poor smell, the “poisoning” of air and water, they called to close the landfill or transfer it to another place.

In response to protests in 2013, the Ministry of Natural Resources of Georgia studied the work of the landfill and revealed several violations. The landfill operator - Tbilservice Group - was fined by 5 thousand Lari, wrote Radio Tavisupleba.

In subsequent years, Tbilservice Group was fined for disorders at least twice another two times - in 2016 and 2020, the publication of Commersant reported . One of these fines was canceled by a court decision as unfounded, the Parki AR Minda project reported in Tbilservice Group. In total, over the past years, the company was fined by 10 thousand Lari.

At a landfill in Lilo, there were no treatment facilities, radiation detectors, gas and wastewater emissions and wastewater emissions. The company Tbilservice Group pledged to eliminate violations within 90 days, but then there was no question of closing the landfill.

“The Ministry of Environmental Protection did not write anything about the fact that the landfill should be closed. We cannot take any measures except to plan the installation of treatment facilities, the closure of the first cell, the construction of the second and so on. All this needs to be spent a lot of money. I repeat, there are no plans to close the landfill at this stage, ” said Tbilservice Group in 2013.

After that, for 10 years, there were no large protests from the landfill in Didi Lilo. But in 2023, complaints resumed, in the village the next rally was held. And on October 15, local residents again called for closing the landfill.

Why does a poor smell arise if it is a modernized European training ground?

By 2023, as the Paper Kartuli co-founder of the Parki AR Minda eco-educational project Tatyana Remneva, Lilo Lilo, is one of the few training grounds in Georgia, already modernized according to European standards.

According to Remneva, the landfill is organized so that its entire area is not used, special cells are created on it, which fill and canned it, and then open the following. The bottom of the cells, according to her, is lined with a special material that prevents soil and groundwater pollution.

“Why are ordinary landfills dangerous? First of all, with a liquid that gathers in waste when everything is dumped into one pile. It penetrates the ground and into groundwater. This must be excluded. The main element of modernization was that the bottom of each cell is isolated. The liquid is allocated to special tanks that are located next to the cell. Also today, in the world there are systems for cleaning this water, then it can be used as a technical one, ”the eco-enlightener explains.

At the same time, in the report of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia, for 2019 it is said that the landfill took place at the landfill from the landfill from the landfill. The reason was that one of two waste storage cells was naked. The ministry already noted that two small capacities were built at the training ground - and the third should be equipped.

According to Tbilservice Group, now there are three cells at the landfill, waste is entered in the third. This was reported by the company Parki AR Minda (a copy of the answer document is at the disposal of Paper Kartuli ).

As a result - people complain of a bad smell. Tatyana Remneva explains that now, in fact, tubes are standing, which help to remove gas from the inside and prevent his fire.

“That is, now the gas is expected and enters the atmosphere. At the same time, you can connect the hoses to these pipes and drive it into the car, which will process it into electricity or heat. That is, the excretion of gas already exists, but its capture is not. It is precisely because the gas is brought to the atmosphere by residents complain about it, ”the specialist explained.

The chairman of the NPO The Greens Movement of Georgia Nino Chobadze said Chaikhana Media that talking about installing a gas collection system has been going on for a long time, but no specific steps have been taken in this direction. In her opinion, the solution to the problem with the landfill in Lilo is to transfer the landfill and clean the territory.

“Now it is critical to find another place for the landfill, which will not be easy ... This landfill has already exhausted its resources, so it is necessary to equip a new, suitable platform,” said Nino Chkhobadze.

Where does the information that the landfill supposedly pollutes water?

There is no confirmation of this. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the landfill operator had problems with water purification.

So, for cleaning wastewater, a special installation was used in a landfill, but it did not provide complete cleaning of contaminated water, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia said for 2019.

At the same time, all types of wastewater, which are formed on the territory of the landfill after cleaning, enter the collector of sewer waters, from which water flows to the right bank of the Norihevi River - to the natural ravine, and then to the Norichevi River itself.

According to the report of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia, Tbilservice Group was supposed to begin to operate a new treatment with appropriate performance. The company said that the arrangement of the water treatment system is planned. Now the technical specifications are being developed, after which an international tender under the auspices of the EBRR will be announced. The project will be completed next year, said in Tbilservice Group.

How did the authorities react to protests because of the landfill and why do these plans criticize these plans?

Against the backdrop of the latest protests, the mayor of Tbilisi met with an initiative group of citizens living next to the Lilo landfill. Activist Christin Gabisonia wrote that the authorities promised the locals to organize a gas collector at the training ground, a water purification system, and also start the research of alternative areas for organizing a landfill, and if the EBRR does not allocate a grant for this research, the city hall will provide resources for this.

A week later, Kakha Kaladze publicly stated that the capital’s authorities moved to the active phase of the construction of a gas collection and disposal system at Lilo landfill. According to him, studies were conducted by experts at the international consulting and engineering company Enviroplan to modernize the training ground.

In December, the company will complete the project on the basis of which a tender will be announced to create a gas collection and disposal system, says Kaladze. After the tender is completed, the project will begin.

“The words of Kakha Kaladze are pure populism. These plans were already several years ago, financing was already agreed on them, and instead of informing the public in time at what stage the project is at, they use it for populist purposes when people went out to protest, ”said Tatyana Remneva, co-founder of the Parki AR Minda, part-time project.

According to her, the process of modernizing the waste management system is very long and expensive. “They are waiting for financing, then you need to purchase equipment, it goes a long time because it is foreign, then you need to train everyone to work on it,” says Tatyana Remneva.

The specialist also notes that the closure of the training ground will not solve the problem: “It is cool to say, let's close the only landfill in the city. And what? What to do with the amount of garbage that Tbilisi produces every day. ”

On November 1, Kakha Kaladze again stated that after the implementation of the project, with the support of the EBRD, the landfill will be “thoroughly landscaped”: “The current state of the training ground is absolutely unacceptable. Therefore, the implementation of all the projects I mentioned is important. ”

In addition to the project, according to the mayor, the city authorities began to search for an alternative place for a landfill. Kaladze instructed his deputy Andriy Basilaya to find experts with international experience who will help the city hall choose a suitable platform and conduct all the necessary preliminary research.

How to survive difficult times? Together 💪

Support our work - and we will help look for solutions where it seems that they are not

What else to read:

• " The cat was shot from pneumatic weapons ." Who saves homeless animals in Tbilisi and how they are fighting with cruelty.
• The Digers' floodplains are an important Tbilisi ecosystem, which was almost destroyed by the secret production of materials. What happened and how do the terrain save?