Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) —  Uzbekistan is actively developing its household waste recycling system. On the occasion of World Recycling Day, the Ministry of Ecology reported significant progress in this area. Following the President’s initiative, projects are being implemented to convert waste into energy and other useful products.

Investment agreements have already been signed with the UAE, South Korea, and China to build plants for generating electricity from waste. The South Korean company Seijin has already launched such a project at the "Akhangaran" landfill. Additionally, there are 66 public-private partnership projects focused on waste sorting and recycling.

According to Nodir Sherkulov, the chief specialist at the Ministry of Ecology, these enterprises are involved in the collection and recycling of household waste.

Umid Kholmatov from the Agency for Waste Management and Circular Economy Development noted that in the last six months, enterprises involved in waste processing (more than 292 types of activities) have processed 270,000 tons of household waste out of a total of 5.2 million tons (5.2% of the total volume). The number of enterprises engaged in recycling and producing finished products is steadily growing.

An example is the "Tashkent Plast Polymer" enterprise, which recycles over 50 tons of waste daily and manufactures 15 types of products, including plastic boxes, pallets, corrugated cardboard items, and more. The company’s director, Dilmurod Khodjaev, emphasized that recycled waste is reused, and special attention is paid to the strength and elasticity of the products.

By 2027, Uzbekistan plans to build 11 waste incineration plants with electricity generation (2.1 billion kWh per year), which will reduce the number of landfills by five times, generate $97 million from electricity sales, save 152 million cubic meters of natural gas, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2.4 million tons, and create 1,200 new jobs.