{"id":608801,"date":"2026-08-26T16:58:40","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T13:58:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/korabelov.info\/2026\/08\/608801\/waste-sorting-in-mykolaiv-could-pose-risks-of-uah-238-million-per-year-to-the-municipal-enterprise\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T16:58:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T13:58:43","slug":"waste-sorting-in-mykolaiv-could-pose-risks-of-uah-238-million-per-year-to-the-municipal-enterprise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/korabelov.info\/en\/2026\/08\/608801\/waste-sorting-in-mykolaiv-could-pose-risks-of-uah-238-million-per-year-to-the-municipal-enterprise\/","title":{"rendered":"Waste sorting in Mykolaiv could pose risks of UAH 238 million per year to the municipal enterprise"},"content":{"rendered":"

The draft agreement on household waste sorting that the Mykolaiv City Council plans to conclude with a private operator following the results of a tender could increase the financial burden on the city and create problems for the municipal enterprise KP \u00abMykolaivkomuntrans\u00bb. This was stated at a meeting of the council’s housing and communal services committee by Mykolaiv City Council deputy Fedir Panchenko<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

A tender must be held to determine the company that will sort the waste collected in Mykolaiv. Under the current wording of the contract, after the winner is determined the municipal enterprise will be required to deliver the city’s waste specifically to that company’s sorting line \u2014 regardless of where it is located.<\/p>\n

Mykolaiv sends about 140,000 tonnes of waste<\/strong> to the landfill each year. According to Fedir Panchenko<\/strong>, the city must not only bring the waste to the private operator at its own expense, but also pay for its sorting.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cMykolaiv buries about 140<\/strong> thousand tonnes of waste in the landfill every year. We will have to deliver the waste to the company at our own expense and also pay for sorting. How much exactly \u2014 they are now trying to hide this from us so that we don’t protest in advance,\u201d the deputy said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

As an example, he cited Zhytomyr, where, according to his information, the sorting tariff rose over several years from roughly 150 to 988 hryvnias per tonne<\/strong>. At the same time, the operator, the deputy claims, stated that the current tariff covers only 57%<\/strong> of the service cost.<\/p>\n

Based on that experience, Fedir Panchenko<\/strong> suggests that in Mykolaiv the sorting tariff could be about 1,700 hryvnias per tonne<\/strong>. Applying this amount to the entire annual waste volume, potential costs could reach about 238 million hryvnias per year<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

A separate risk the deputy sees is that \u201cMykolaivkomuntrans\u201d could effectively become an intermediary between residents and the private operator. The enterprise would collect payments from subscribers, pass them on to the private company, and at the same time bear responsibility for non-payments.<\/p>\n

According to Panchenko, consumer underpayments to the municipal enterprise currently amount to approximately 13%<\/strong>. If, after the introduction of a new tariff, some residents refuse to pay, the lost revenues could turn into a cash shortfall of about 40 million hryvnias<\/strong>. Then the municipal enterprise would have to cover the deficit with its own resources or annually appeal to the city council to replenish its statutory capital. In the long run, the deputy does not rule out court rulings, freezing of accounts and seizure of the enterprise’s assets.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThe municipal enterprise is being asked to collect these funds from citizens and transfer them to the private company, practically performing the role of a collector for free and taking on all the risks of underpayment. With the current underpayment level of about 13<\/strong>%, in the best case the enterprise will fail to collect around 40<\/strong> million hryvnias. This amount will become a cash shortfall that will have to be covered by who knows what \u2014 its own funds or annual replenishment of statutory capital. Later this may lead to court rulings, freezing of accounts and seizure of property,\u201d the deputy reported.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Another weak point of the contract, Fedir Panchenko<\/strong> called the possibility for the municipal enterprise to receive a certain percentage of the proceeds from the sale of secondary raw materials. In his opinion, such a model is complex and opaque, because the operator of the sorting line can influence information about the volumes of sold material, and it will be very difficult to verify these data.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThey propose making the municipal enterprise’s income some mythical percentages of the sale of secondary raw materials. This is a complex and non-transparent scheme that the sorting line operator will be able to manipulate, and control over it will be extremely difficult,\u201d Panchenko said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The deputy also drew attention to logistical costs. If the sorting line of the tender winner is located outside Mykolaiv, the draft contract, he says, does not clearly define who will pay for the additional transportation.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cWhat will happen if the winner is a participant who operates, for example, in Zhytomyr? They will tell us: bring the waste here at your own expense. The contract does not regulate this issue. In fact, the enterprise could be obliged to deliver waste to who knows where and pay for it enormous sums,\u201d the deputy said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

According to Panchenko, the document also does not contain sufficiently concrete requirements for handling the residues after sorting \u2014 the so\u2011called \u201ctails.\u201d Using Zhytomyr as an example, he noted that after processing about 60% of the waste<\/strong>, in his information, still ends up at the landfill.<\/p>\n

The deputy believes that without a clearly defined sorting depth the operator may receive high payment for the service while sending a significant portion of the waste directly to the landfill. The cost of burial, according to his data, is about 320 hryvnias per tonne<\/strong>, while the sorting tariff may be at the level of 1,500\u20131,700 hryvnias<\/strong>. The difference could be around 1,300 hryvnias per tonne<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThe operator receives waste at a tariff of 1,500<\/strong>\u20131,700<\/strong> hryvnias per tonne, after which they can take it to the landfill and pay about 320<\/strong> hryvnias for burial, leaving the difference for themselves. If the abuse is even greater, the trucks can go straight to the landfill while the documents state that they visited the sorting line. This is a kind of waste arbitrage. A contract with such gaps should not be allowed,\u201d Panchenko said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

To change the proposed approach, the deputy suggested holding the tender not for the right to receive payment for sorting, but for the right to accept waste from the municipal enterprise taking delivery costs into account.<\/p>\n

Under his model, the private investor should pay Mykolaivkomuntrans<\/strong> for transporting waste to its own sorting line. For example, if the line is located not at 50<\/strong> but at 51<\/strong> kilometers, the tender participant should pay the enterprise extra for the additional distance. Competition is proposed to be ensured by a bonus surcharge to the delivery payment:<\/p>\n