Coal industry waste recycling infrastructure to be created in Russia

An infrastructure for recycling coal mining waste will be created in Russia: the corresponding action plan was approved by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. On October 13, Izvestia was informed about this by the Russian Environmental Operator (REO), whose specialists participated in the preparation of the document.

As part of the roadmap, REO will prepare a collection of best practices, analyze the equipment market, propose financial support for the industry, and participate in the development of legislative amendments to encourage the reuse of resources.

"The coal mining industry generates more than 60% of all industrial waste in Russia. Last year alone, their volume exceeded 6 billion tons. If at least some of this waste is recycled, we will be able to create an additional base of building materials, reduce the load on landfills and reduce the cost of land reclamation. This is an opportunity for the regions, especially Siberia, to use a new source of economic growth and environmental sustainability," said Denis Butsaev, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation.

In 2023, Russia generated 9.3 billion tons of production and consumption waste. Of these, 6 billion tons are coal mining waste, including overburden. Some of these materials are already used in construction, road construction, reclamation and thermal power engineering, but most of them remain out of economic circulation.

The coal mining industry is one of the largest sources of waste. Together with relevant departments, we offer specific solutions: overburden processing, enterprise support, and legislative changes. This is an important step towards the transition to a closed—loop economy," the REO press service noted.

It is also planned to work out mechanisms to support enterprises wishing to recycle waste: from reimbursement of part of the equipment costs to simplified access to overburden dumps located in areas of undistributed subsurface resources. Among the priorities is to create demand for products containing recycled materials within the framework of federal and regional programs, the REO concluded.

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Earlier, on April 24, Novak instructed the federal center and the regional authorities of the Russian Federation to work out medium-term measures to support coal enterprises. The instruction was given following a meeting of the subcommittee on improving the sustainability of the financial sector and individual sectors of the economy, which discussed the current situation of the coal industry and measures to improve its efficiency. The heads of the coal mining regions of the Russian Federation reported to the government on the situation in the industry. The proposed measures of the Ministry of Energy should be finalized, taking into account the announced additions.

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