Changing Societies & Personalities, 2022
Vol. 6, No. 4, pp. 858–883

https://doi.org/10.15826/csp.2022.6.4.207

Received 15 June 2022 © 2022 Polina O. Ermolaeva,
Accepted 23 December 2022 Yulia V. Ermolaeva, Dmitry V. Efremenko 
Published online 30 December 2022 polina.ermolaeva@gmail.com 

ermolaevayulia1990@gmail.com 
efdv2015@mail.ru

ARTICLE 

Metabolic Transformations in the Area 
of Municipal Solid Waste Management 
in Russian Megalopolises: 
The City of Moscow Case

Polina O. Ermolaeva
Center of Advanced Economic Research, Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan, 
Kazan Federal University,  
Kazan, Russia 

Yulia V. Ermolaeva
Center of Advanced Economic Research, Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan, 
Kazan Federal University, 
Kazan, Russia 

Dmitry V. Efremenko
Institute of Scientific Information for Social Sciences, Russian Academy of Sciences (INION RAN), 
Moscow, Russia 

ABSTRACT
Based on secondary data analysis and semi-structured expert 
interviews (n = 90), the study analyses metabolic transformations 
in the area of municipal solid waste (MSW) management in Russian 
megalopolises using the city of Moscow as a case study. The findings 
suggest that the key node that triggered numerous interdependent 
processes involved the changes introduced in the legislation on 
MSW management and the decision to shut down several large MSW 
landfills without the simultaneous implementation of other landfills. 
These actions affected the health of the population and contributed to 
environmental inequality. The authors provide recommendations for 
the mitigation of risks associated with MSW generation, recycling, and 
storage in large Russian cities.

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Introduction

According to United Nations (UN) estimates, the volume of municipal solid waste 
(MSW) is increasing annually, and by 2025 will be five times higher than in 1990 (United 
Nations Environment Programme, 2015). This issue is exacerbated in megalopolises. 
Russian megalopolises are no exception here. In the Russian Federation, over 
60 million tons of MSW are produced annually, which is approximately 400 kg per 
person (Zadera, 2022). According to the poll conducted by the leading Russian 
sociological service, Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM), Russians 
considered the following to be the most pressing environmental issues: air pollution 
(22%), landfill sites (16%), and untimely waste collection and disposal (11%) (Samyi 
bol’shoi vred, 2021). All of this leads to the deterioration of citizens’ health and living 
standards while also limiting opportunities for the further development of Russian 
cities. It should be noted that the problems of MSW storage and management are 
also considered to be one of the most important societal issues provoking the growth 
of protest activity in Russia in the past few years.

There are many worldwide studies of solid waste management in megalopolises 
from interdisciplinary perspectives considering the interconnections among economic, 
social, environmental, and political dimensions. Notable examples are the study 
of solid waste management and environmental equity in Barcelona (Fragkou et al., 
2014); the examination of the conceptual and comprehensive sustainability framework 
of European cities to support decision-making in waste management (Taelman et al., 
2018); and, the study of waste planning and resource management in “metabolic 
thinking” (Longato et al., 2019), among many. However, in modern Russian science, 
there is a notable imbalance in favor of the socio-economic and environmental 
research of waste in cities, such as studies devoted to the analysis of territorial waste 
management schemes, MSW processing technologies, designing of econometric 
models, etc. (Bobylev & Zakharov, 2009). Such studies do not facilitate the exploration 
of the complex interdependent qualitative processes that occur in different systems 
of waste generation and disposal in Russian megalopolises.

Consequently, to fill this knowledge gap, our research is aimed at analysing 
the causal relationships in the area of MSW disposal in Russian megalopolises 
with a focus on the reciprocity and interplay of social, informational, technological, 
economic, and environmental processes, as well as their metabolic transformations. 

KEYWORDS
socio-ecological metabolism, metabolic transformations, municipal solid 
waste, waste management, environmental justice, Russian megalopolis

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The research was supported by the Russian Science Foundation 
under Grant No. 22-28-00392 “Waste production and disposal in the 
megalopolises of Russia: multisectoral and interdisciplinary analysis”. 

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860 Polina O. Ermolaeva, Yulia V. Ermolaeva, Dmitry V. Efremenko

We will review these reciprocal relations and interdependent transformations 
within the scope of socio-ecological metabolism (SEM) (Efremenko et al., 2019; 
Ermolaeva, 2015). Complex metabolic processes continuously occur in cities and 
tend to bifurcate sooner or later, creating qualitatively new forms of the reciprocal 
relations between social life and the environment. The SEM approach is suitable 
for the research of MSW management as it features the examination of complex 
metabolic processes between the urban systems, the transition of some processes 
and substances into others and their interinfluence, as well as the analysis and 
registration of the invisible consequences of such transitions and transformations for 
the different groups of stakeholders. In addition, we should consider the constantly 
increasing value of the information factor that can have a significant impact on the 
dynamics and modality of the processes of the SEM.

Thus, the goal of this research is to analyse the metabolic transformations in the 
area of MSW management in Russian megalopolises with a focus on the reciprocal 
changes in the environmental, social, informational, and technological processes. 
To analyse the changes, we will use the following parameters: (a) determination 
of the main SEM “nodes” in the area of MSW management; (b) determination of 
the causal relationships and metabolic transformations (both positive and negative); 
(c) determination of the points of metabolic transformations that impose the greatest 
risks on the citizens’ health and wellbeing; (d) provision of recommendations for 
risk mitigation. 

The hypothesis of our research is based on the fact that in Russian cities, dynamic 
processes in the area of MSW management occur in association with the rapid 
growth of the volume of both material and informational waste, a shutdown of landfill 
sites, an increase in the number of unauthorized dumping grounds, construction 
of waste incineration plants, aggravation and politicization of the environmental 
protests related to the problems of waste management, and the criminalization 
of waste management business. These processes served as accelerators for the 
metabolic transformations occurring in the material, discursive, informational, and 
technogenic urban environment. Today, we witness how old biochemical and social 
exchange chains are disintegrating and new ones are shaping under the influence 
of these processes. At the same time, we can observe and determine the changes 
in the attitudes and behaviors of the social groups that are sometimes overlooked by 
the researchers who analyse the socio-political dynamics in modern-day Russia. 

Theoretical and Methodological Research Coordinates

“Socio-ecological metabolism” as a term applied to the area of MSW has different 
connotations in the English language literature depending on the methodological 
positions and disciplinary boundaries of the researchers. 

New conceptual ideas of the urban hybridity by Bruno Latour (1990), Erik 
Swyngedouw (1996), and others address the physical entities (water, air, etc.) that act 
as active agents (alongside humans) in the production of spaces. This perspective is 
very different from the linear models of urban space associated with such concepts 



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as the “industrial metabolism” (Ayres & Simonis, 1994), “ecological footprints”  
(Wackernagel et al., 2019), and other functionalist urban space concepts (Ermolaeva, 
2015). The notion of urban metabolism is often symmetrical to the notion of 
metabolism in living organisms since cities are viewed as ecosystems. Cities, like 
natural organisms, consume resources and produce waste. “Cities transform raw 
materials, fuel, and water into the urban built environment, human biomass, and 
waste” (Decker et al., 2000, p. 25).

The SEM concept encapsulates several approaches that transformed into the 
concept of analysing the life cycle and socio-biotechnological systems (Efremenko 
et al., 2019), zero-waste approaches (Murray, 2002), the theory of mobility networks 
and flows (Urry, 2003), and others. The evaluation of a life cycle within the scope of 
SEM is revised with due regard to the encompassing notion of resource efficiency: the 
more effective the social community is in using various types of raw natural materials 
and transforming of energy, distributing the final product, the higher its cultural, 
technological, and economical capacity. Thus, the greater part waste takes in the 
transformation chains of production and consumption, the greater is the welfare of the 
society and the more sustainable is the use of environmental resources. Urry (2003) 
pays considerable attention to the reverse links featuring non-linear reciprocation. 
He noted the shift towards the creation of the institutes of reflexive modernization 
in society, distinguished static communities, and substantiated the changes in 
the understanding of societies towards networks and flows of dynamic groups that 
are deprived of precise spatial-temporal parameters. According to the zero-waste 
approach (Hannon & Zaman, 2018), secondary flows (waste) should be returned 
into the cycle, while the unrecyclable residue should be burnt and reclaimed in areas 
distant from residential use. The logistics of secondary materials are covered by non-
material flows, such as communication lines and regulating institutions that ensure 
a certain connection between the different stages of a life cycle and demonstrate 
the level of development of the waste management culture. 

To explain different processes, metabolic relations, and transformations, we will 
employ the capabilities of interdisciplinary approaches and private sociological theories.

Out of the numerous approaches to defining SEM (Odum, 1983; Wolman, 1965), 
we will rely on the approach of Matthew Gandy (2004). He defines SEM as flows 
that depend directly on external factors, such as energy, materials, and information. 
Talking about cities in terms of metabolic processes inevitably leads to considering the 
matter of balance between the social and biophysical in the urban space. Discarding 
the functionalist perception of this concept, authors regard it dialectically as the 
interaction of nature and culture in an urban environment. In this sense, this approach 
conveniently diverts us from the popular SEM tendency to calculate the material flows in 
the form of the reinterpretation of social relations in cities, such as the division of labor, 
the configuration of relations of power, and the particular qualities of the alignment of 
political forces (Martinez-Alier & Walter, 2016). In this work, we will focus on reviewing 
qualitatively interconnected and interdependent causal relationships and metabolic 
processes in a city as in an open system in the field of MSW management. We would 
understand these processes as metabolic transformations—the life cycle of waste 

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862 Polina O. Ermolaeva, Yulia V. Ermolaeva, Dmitry V. Efremenko

implies further transitions into many substances that produce invisible consequences 
for the different groups of stakeholders.

Waste disposal requires production capacities and, consequently, additional 
energy, natural, informational, and social resources. In this regard, we employ the 
concept of metabolic “nodes” as a network process that overlap and impede; each 
node of the kind spawns numerous visible and invisible interdependent metabolic 
transformations that can be viewed as socially and environmentally friendly or harmful, 
with visible or yet unknown nodes. Later in the study, we would apply this approach 
to visualize interdependent relationships between and among various nodes that 
produce either positive or negative effects in the society and environment.

In our opinion, the SEM approach is advantageous for the understanding of 
causal relationships between subsystems; nevertheless, we will also employ middle-
range theories to explain the processes occurring inside them. In particular, we will use 
the environmental inequality approach (Gonzalez, 2018; Pellow, 2002). We concluded 
that there is a confrontation between the environmentally unprotected groups of the 
population, enterprises, and pollution-monitoring structures in the most polluted 
urban districts. They also determined the positions of such a confrontation. 

The notion of a world-system by Wallerstein (2001) is applied to megalopolises, 
where the inequality in the supply of resources between the center and the periphery 
becomes a global issue, and is projected on the model of the confrontation between 
the center and the surrounding territories of cities and megalopolises regarding the 
provision of equal access to clean residential territories. The infrastructure of built-
up cities is hard and slow to change, and such cities are often closely connected 
with the surrounding territories, which is why the waste streams are taken away from 
the center and to the surrounding territories if there is no recycling infrastructure, 
such as sorting stations and well-equipped landfills. Degrading waste, self-ignition 
of dumping sites, and new incineration plants built within the city boundaries are risk 
points for the citizens. It raises questions related to the principles of environmental 
justice, where all citizens, regardless of their race, skin color, national background, 
and income take equal part in the development of, implementation, and compliance 
with environmental protection legislation, rules, and policies. The asymmetry in the 
legislative and politico-economic status of megalopolises, and the territories where 
MSW emitted by such megalopolises is stored and reclaimed, is an acute problem 
in the national context of individual countries (in the Russian context, in particular) 
(Ermolaeva et al., 2019).

Methodology

This research, in the form of an exploratory case study, used a mixed methods 
approach. The selection of the city of Moscow and its agglomeration as a test bed for 
the SEM approach is rationalized, first of all, by the bulk of activities undertaken in its 
territory under the Federal project Chistaia srana [Clean Country], a mass recycling 
campaign, including the building of an incineration plant, etc. Secondly, following the 
environmental inequality approach, we will reflect on Moscow and its border territories 



Changing Societies & Personalities, 2022, Vol. 6, No. 4, pp. 858–883 863

in the context of a system of flows of substances which are distributed with different 
degrees of concentration in its territory and in the surrounding environments.

In the first stage, we employed secondary data analysis (public opinion polls, 
media discourse analysis, federal and regional programs, etc.) to study the existing 
discourse in the field of education and management of MSW, regional characteristics, 
as well as determining a pool of experts for interviews. In the second stage, semi-
structured expert interviews (n = 90) were conducted with researchers from academia 
(30) and environmental organizations (30), leaders of environmental and civic 
initiatives (20), and “garbage” operators (10). Informants were selected based on the 
snowball sample with the following criteria: wide knowledge of the subject; availability 
of fundamental knowledge in the field of expertise; the presence of their original 
ideas and concepts; and, ability to take a clear research position. In the first stage, 
narrative analysis is performed, to convert the discontinuous, illogical raw material 
to coherent and ordered text. In the second stage, the meanings were consolidated—
the informants’ judgments were reduced to short formulations, a set of conclusions. 
The study was conducted in the spring of 2018.

We would like to state certain limitations associated with the case study 
approach that could be acknowledged and overcome in future research on the 
topic. While the desk research highlighted the general state of MSW that is true to all 
megalopolises in Russia, in the empirical data we analysed SEM based on the city 
of Moscow and its agglomeration to capture the causal relationship and make SEM 
conceptualization more precise and region-specific.

Results

Trigger Node. The New Legislation Regulating Socio-Economic Tools  
in the Field of MSW Management in Russian Megalopolises  
and the Political Decisions Related to the Shutdown  
of Individual Landfill Sites 
The issue of managing waste in Russia became especially urgent at the time of the 
radical reforms of the 1990s and further restructuring of the industrial sector when the 
elements of the cyclical production and processing of materials, ferrous and non-
ferrous metallurgy, and plastics that were available in the Soviet system ceased to 
exist; only individual initiatives for oil product refining remained, and glass and paper 
recycling plants became disengaged from direct logistics (Zaytsev, 2012). Discussion 
and ratification of the procedures and remit of the new institution regulating the collection 
and reclamation of waste were delayed for two decades. While the infrastructure 
of the recycling industry was “paused”, the citizens’ consumption speed, resource 
extraction, production of goods, citizens’ purchasing power, and the variety of goods 
started to rapidly increase at the beginning of the 2000s, after a sharp decrease in the 
1990s. Nevertheless, even during the crisis of the 1990s, megalopolises were growing 
(Moscow and its urban agglomeration were growing at the fastest pace) at the expense 
of a migrant influx coming from other regions of Russia and post-Soviet countries. 
Against this backdrop, the production of municipal waste was rapidly multiplying.

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864 Polina O. Ermolaeva, Yulia V. Ermolaeva, Dmitry V. Efremenko

Figure 1
Model of Metabolic Transformations in the Area of Municipal Solid Waste Management: 
The City of Moscow Case

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

Trigger nodes 

Metabolic transformations that impose the greatest risks 

 

The new legislation regulating 
socio-economic tools in the field of MSW

The political decisions related 
to the shut down landfill sites

“Harmful” metabolic transformations
“Positive metabolic” transformations

Node 1. The transformations
of the infrastructure in the area

of MSW disposal

Fostering 
tech-innovations 

(smart containers, etc.)

Lack of regional 
operators

Node 2.
The socio-ecological 

consequences
of the MSW changes

Introduction
of new workplaces 

Introduction
of the legitimised initiatives 

on waste sorting

Lack of recycling 
capacities

Introduction
of recycling 

practices 
No changes

in the economic 
flows (lack of raw 

materials for 
recycling, etc.)Accelerated new 

infrastructure in the area 
of waste reclamation

Lack of coherent awareness 
campaign in recycling 

Recycling
is not implemented
in citizens’ routine

Misuse of garbage 
containers or their 

“standstills” 

No increase in the volume
of useful waste sorting
into different fractions

(with the dynamics
of approximately 1–2%)

Increase
of paternalism

and fatigue
of citizens

as the result
of the continuation

of MSW 
construction  

Contamination of all 
environments with MSW 

decomposition substances

Expansion
of landfills

Environmental 
inequity increase

Negative impact 
on health

Territorial schemes 
were changed

by the local
authorities

Environmental 
conflicts

and tensions

Fostering
the zero-waste 

movements  

Strengthening
of citizens’ 

ecoactivism  

Note. Source: Authors.



Changing Societies & Personalities, 2022, Vol. 6, No. 4, pp. 858–883 865

At the legislative level, the regulation of different sectors of waste production 
and management lost its internal connection, and the metabolic chains of waste 
management became disjointed, which was an aggravating factor. In other words, 
the main responsibility for waste collection and disposal was assumed by municipal 
governments and private waste management companies whose responsibility was 
to export MSW to landfill sites and waste incineration plants (WIPs). Only a small 
portion of the enterprises (4%) were responsible for the reclamation and were forced 
to independently provide themselves with raw materials. Since the beginning of the 
1990s, the sector of MSW disposal and storage has become highly criminalized; 
a considerable proportion of this business was occupied by “unscrupulous” actors, 
which led to the exponential growth of unauthorized disposal sites around Moscow. 
A statement made by Russian President Vladimir Putin in November 2016 attests to 
the dominance of the shadowed waste management business:

I must admit. As for the Moscow region, I had to address certain issues personally. 
It was impossible to get things moving, there is criminal activity, and certain 
businesses flourishing. Citizens were simply unable to solve these issues. Even local 
authorities were unable to do anything until I personally commanded internal military 
forces to intervene. (Putin rasskazal, 2016; trans. by P. E., Yu. E., & D. E.)

As a result, 31.1 billion tons of waste were accumulated in Russia, 20% of which 
came from Moscow and the Moscow region, while the annual increase of MSW 
amounts to 2.5% (Ermolaeva et al., 2019). The deficit of economic, legislative, and 
technological tools, as well as a high degree of corruption and the presence of criminal 
structures, brought Russia to be entrapped in the niche of a “linear” economy. 

Stage 1. The new approach to waste management was introduced in 2014 when 
the new version of the Federal Law No. 89-FZ Ob otkhodakh proizvodstva i potrebleniia 
[On industrial and household waste] (1998) was passed. The amendments included 
new terminology, and such terms as waste “reclamation”, “recycling”, “regeneration”, 
or “recuperation” were introduced, which did not affect the development of the 
infrastructure in this sector but were required for the international standardization of 
terms (O vnesenii izmenenii, 2014). New principles of waste management were also 
defined to determine the line of development of this sector (the priority was given to 
reclamation over waste incineration and landfilling); new regulatory mechanisms were 
introduced (a ban on the disposal of wastes containing useful components, extended 
producer responsibility, an institute of regional operators); the powers of the authorities 
were adjusted (the mission to solve the waste issue was transferred from the municipal 
level to the regional one); the parameters for calculating and paying environmental 
charges were defined, as well as the expenditure terms for the environmental charges 
received in the federal budget. Then, enterprises had to report in and maintain a public 
record of the extent of waste, which allowed the creation of a base of registered and 
recorded waste for further processing. However, departments and ministries were still 
responsible for individual production and consumption sectors, while not being united 
into a single functional system with a single waste tracking and liability scheme.

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866 Polina O. Ermolaeva, Yulia V. Ermolaeva, Dmitry V. Efremenko

Stage 2. This stage is associated with the appearance of regional operators 
and a whole single tracking system that synchronized different chains of the MSW 
recycling and reclamation cycle. The regional operators chosen by each region of the 
Russian Federation to coordinate the process of MSW management were supposed to 
create a single metabolic cycle. The regional operators have to agree with the political 
region on domestic waste collection, disposal, and reclamation. Regional operators 
accumulate all financial flows coming from the population, business, governmental 
companies, and other domestic waste generators and make agreements on actual 
waste handling with other market actors or do it on their own, given the opportunity, for 
the minimum term of 10–15 years (Ermolaeva et al., 2019). The new institute regulates 
the relationships between all stakeholders in the waste management system in each 
region by the creation of an infrastructure for waste disposal collection, as well as 
the development of the necessary sorting capacities. As of the end of 2017–2018, 
territorial waste management schemes were developed in 85 subjects of the Russian 
Federation, and regional waste management schemes were developed in 52 subjects 
(Ermolaeva, 2021). 

On January 1, 2018, a new federal law was passed (O vnesenii izmenenii, 2017), 
according to which Russia began to transition to the new MSW management system. 
The payment for MSW management is moved from communal expenses to the list of 
payments for utility services, which increases the cost of MSW disposal and creates 
an economic resource for the recycling sector. This reorganization of the legislation 
generates new nodes of metabolic transformations that did not exist before. We 
suggest reviewing them individually below.

Node 1. The Transformations of the Infrastructure in the Area 
of MSW Disposal in Russian Megalopolises (see Fig. 1)
Municipal waste constitutes 82%, and its dynamics have not changed (Tulokhonova & 
Ulanova, 2013). Regarding the observations of the morphological composition of the 
citizens’ waste over 16 years from 1991 to 2013, Tulokhonova and Ulanova’s (2013) 
came to the following conclusions: polymeric materials show the highest increase 
from 3% to 13.8%, whose amount doubled over a decade; the segment of glass nearly 
tripled in size (from 4.2% to 11.4%); the share of metal waste dropped significantly 
(from 8.1% to 2.8%); the segment of organic waste remained at 30% of the total waste 
generation rate. Although consumption and the amount of waste continue to grow1, 
the level of the beneficial use of waste also increased from 40% in 2006 to 60% in 
2016 (Ermolaeva et al., 2019). The new infrastructure represented by governmental 
and private enterprises2 specializing in waste management began to appear along 
with new workplaces, forming the seeds of the circular economy. In comparison with 

1 According to the Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resource, by 2018, 38 billion 
73 million tons of industrial and domestic waste have been accumulated in Russia. At the same time, 6 billion 
220.6 million tons were generated in 2017 (which is 12.5% more than in 2016). Two billion 53.9 million tons 
of waste were recycled in 2018. (Riumin, 2019)

2 Within the scope of the transition to the best technologies available.



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the municipal sector where recycling contains only 7–10% of total waste, in industrial 
waste sectors, the rate of waste reusability is over 60% (Ermolaeva & Rybakova, 2019).

New infrastructural transformations were also associated with the appearance of 
an initiative on the separate sorting of MSW, as required by legislation. This initiative 
implies the technological process of waste sorting into small components by hand 
or using automated conveyors with the collection of the most valuable elements for 
further recycling. In this regard, the number of material recovery facilities (MRF) in 
Russia has grown to 60 units since 2010 (Nepomiashchaia, 2018). At the same time, 
the number of small material recovery businesses employing only manual labor to sort 
different types of waste increased many times and is not subject to official registration. 

Since January 1, 2018, waste sorting was implemented in several Russian regions 
(the Moscow region, the Republic of Tatarstan, Nizhny Novgorod region, Belgorod 
region, and others)3. Changes were also introduced to the technological amenities  
of the waste management sector in large Russian cities: online software and applications 
devoted to waste disposal were developed, as well as systems of waste collection 
synchronization with municipal authorities and private companies; “smart” containers 
equipped with the function of alerting the people responsible when the container is full 
were introduced; navigation control over garbage trucks was implemented (Ermolaeva, 
2021). Regional operators and non-profit organizations have organized waste sorting 
in small and middle-sized towns, such as Vladimir, Izhevsk, Kyshtym, the village of 
Lisii Nos, Mytishchi, Novokuznetsk, Ozersk, Perm, Saransk, Cheliabinsk, and in most 
districts of Moscow and Saint Petersburg (approximately 70–80%) (Rukov, 2018).

As one expert commented on this situation: 

Operators are prescribed the task of developing waste sorting in their territories. 
They try to do this to the best of their personal interests. There are citizens 
who keep close tabs on the installation of containers in their districts, on the 
people responsible for that; they check whether everything works the way 
it should. It gives rise to the public control that makes annual checks of all the 
issues related to separate waste collection, which allows companies to be more 
conscientious when it comes to this part of their contract and to develop public 
collection structures. (The representative of a non-profit organization, personal 
communication, March 15, 2018; trans. by P. E., Yu. E., & D. E.)

These initiatives triggered the appearance of new waste sorting practices 
among the population in megacities, yet the major changes will be observed only 
“after 10–15 years, because people in megacities need time and became more eco-
friendly” (The representative of a non-profit organization, personal communication, 
March 15, 2018; trans. by P. E., Yu. E., & D. E.).

Public polls conducted in Russia showed that by 2019, the dynamics of waste 
disposal had not changed, and only 7% of the Russian population sorted their waste, 
the same as in 2012 (Ermolaeva et al., 2019). The respondents stated that they refused 
to separate their waste due to external factors: 69% pointed at the “absence of the 

3 Most often, recyclable elements (glass, plastic, metal) and non-recyclable waste.

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868 Polina O. Ermolaeva, Yulia V. Ermolaeva, Dmitry V. Efremenko

infrastructure for the separate waste collection at the place of residence”, 20% of the 
surveyed people did not know how to separate waste, and 11% alluded to the lack of 
time (Ermolaeva et al., 2019). A study published by the researchers (Volkova, 2018) 
showed that the group of people intending to get involved in waste sorting (potential 
participants) amounted to 19%, along with citizens intending to continue separate 
waste collection and sorting amounting to 29%. The majority of Russians (68%) have 
never started sorting waste in recent years (indifferent citizens). Compared to 2014, 
the number of people participating in waste sorting increased, in a scientists’ opinion: 

Operators had to cover 20% of the population in two years, 40% of the population 
in the following two years, and so on. The population was supposed to become 
involved in waste sorting. As we can see, only about 10% of the population is 
currently involved, but the situation is changing, and we hope that in 15–20 years, 
people will be more involved in these processes, and everything will be great. 
(The representative of the public administration, personal communication, 
April 1, 2018; trans. by P. E., Yu. E., & D. E.)

A representative of a non-profit organization observed:

In 2013, the implementation of government contracts on waste management 
began, and waste sorting became one of the terms of such contracts. Target 
values specified in these government contracts are very unimposing. The 
requirements stipulated in these government contracts for such a megalopolis 
as Moscow only imply the presence of one waste collection station for every 
11,000 citizens. For such an infrastructure, it’s a vestige […] Government 
contracts do not make any provisions for awareness-rising. If we were to put 
waste sorting containers all across the city, but didn’t work with the population 
and didn’t explain how and why they should handle their waste, the situation 
would not improve. (The representative of a non-profit organization, personal 
communication, April 5, 2018; trans. by P. E., Yu. E., & D. E.) 

Statistically, even after the waste is sorted, 80–90% of it goes to landfills. The 
State Register of Waste Disposal Sites documented 849 landfills, disposal sites, 
dumps, and different types of storage facilities, 170 of which are designated MSW 
landfills (Pasport natsionalnogo proekta, n.d.). All of this, in turn, puts a strain on 
the environment through spontaneous combustion of landfills, air and groundwater 
pollution, etc. Among all Russian regions, the Moscow region remains the most 
loaded with municipal waste, and became the point with high-level protest activity 
among the citizens (Skipor, 2020). The environmental inequality between the center 
and the periphery in terms of waste disposal offers new criteria for social stratification 
and redefines the established social distance and roles of Russian megalopolises 
and neighboring territories (for example, Iadrovo and Malinki landfills), which we will 
discuss in detail below (see Node 2). The reciprocal relations and mutual influence 
of natural, social, and technological components of waste management that impact 



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the safety of the population require study. This is vividly illustrated by the case of the 
emergency landing of Ural’skie avialinii [Ural Airlines] plane in Moscow region caused 
by a bird strike originating from an unauthorized landfill nearby that attracted the 
birds (Passazhirskii A-321, 2019).

The national project Ekologiia [Ecology] includes nine federal projects (e.g., 
Chistaia strana [Clean Country], Chistyi vozdukh [Clean Air], etc.). The work is 
undertaken in five areas: waste, water, air, biodiversity, technology. The federal 
projects are aimed at the reclamation of the most dangerous objects of accumulated 
environmental damage: the elimination of unauthorized dumps within the boundaries 
of cities. It is assumed that following the results of the projects, the demographic 
situation in the country and the quality of life of the population will significantly improve. 
The deadline for the implementation of the national project is December 31, 2024 
(Pasport natsionalnogo proekta, n.d.). According to these projects, by 2025, five WIPs 
should be built (four of them in Moscow region, and one in the Republic of Tatarstan). 
It is intended that 1–2% of the MSW generated in large Russian urban zones will be 
delivered there. 

For example, in the city of Moscow, in contrast to other regions, several regional 
operators perform within the city, removing waste from each administrative district. 
Collection is mixed and separate. In general, Moscow is overloaded with waste, and 
its citizens do not recycle carefully enough. 

According to Rossiiskii ekologicheskii operator [Russian Environmental Operator], 
by the end of 2022, ten waste treatment complexes will operate in the Moscow region, 
two of which will be a part of the EcoLine group. The company, in turn, exports 42% of 
the waste from Moscow and 17% from the Moscow region for processing. The waste 
sorting complex Vostok (currently the largest in Europe) is recycling 1.2 million tons per 
year for 8% of the mixed waste and more than 35% of the separately collected waste. 
At the beginning of 2022, the most technologically advanced Neva complex in Russia, 
with a capacity of 500,000 tons per year, started operating. Moscow already has an 
impressive processing infrastructure for waste at the processing stage, but it is not 
properly loaded with raw materials. Currently, in Moscow there are five waste transfer 
facilities, four waste sorting complexes, two PET recycling complexes, a complex for the 
processing of electrical waste, and 134 stationary recycling points. There are more than 
2,000 machines for receiving cans, and 2,300 containers for separate waste collection. 
At the last stage of the life cycle of waste generation, four WIPs operate dealing with 
770,000 tons per year; fractions that cannot be processed at the moment are burned 
here. An increase in the depth of processing is possible if a larger percentage of the 
population is involved in separate collection. A reduction in the production of non-
recyclable fractions can be achieved through direct work with the population and the 
introduction of economically positive incentives (Chernyshev, 2022).

WIPs do not require preliminary waste sorting, which is why, according to the 
program, they were considered to be an alternative to landfills and an opportunity 
to prevent further accumulation of waste in the vicinity of residential areas. However, 
the construction of WIPs did not discontinue the increase in the number of landfills. 
This is how one of the experts commented on the given situation: 

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Currently, it is suggested that four waste incineration plants will be built in Moscow 
region to handle the waste generated in Moscow. Even though it does not fit into the 
public policy. It is a high risk for the environment [...] Will we believe that recycling 
is something impossible for us, that our citizens will be unable to sort their waste? 
Then, with time, we will have more environmental disaster areas in Moscow 
region. If we manage to turn this situation to support the processing facilities 
and establish the infrastructure for the collection of recyclable materials, we will 
be able to transition to good recycling rates and lesser environmental pollution. 
(The representative of a non-profit organization, personal communication, 
April 23, 2018; trans. by P. E., Yu. E., & D. E.) 

New generation technologies allow the minimization of the negative influence 
of WIPs on the environment but leave behind up to 0.99% of hazardous emissions 
in the form of ash, which leads to economic losses and social clashes (Zaytsev, 
2012). A separate issue concerns the implementation of the thermal methods of 
waste decomposition resulting in the production of fuel or chemical raw materials 
(for example, pyrolysis) that allow plants to function autonomously and give away 
a small part of the residue for public heating, but cannot compete with the sector 
of recycling in terms of supplying secondary raw materials. 

Thus, despite the priorities stipulated in the legislation, the main waste disposal 
schemes remain to be landfills and WIPs, while waste sorting is developing slowly 
(from 5% to 7%) and the recycling sector is progressing even slower—does not exceed 
10% by 2018, according to different sources (Ermolaeva, 2021). All of this continues to 
aggravate the imbalance in support of the linear economy because the main sector of 
waste sorting and recycling is not progressing. The compilation of territorial schemes 
under the project “Clean Country” is a significant advance in the issue of standardization 
of the process, where the main positive force is the coordination of stakeholders, as it 
allowed the collection of a list of pain points of regions that were previously unknown. 
However, the principles of the project themselves are not resource efficient in comparison 
with the zero-waste policy, as confirmed by an expert survey and content analysis of the 
project. Nevertheless, there was a need to reconsider the power of local solutions on 
the ground, which can be implemented in Russian conditions. If priorities in the field 
of creation and infrastructure are redistributed recycling, there is a necessity to pay 
more attention to the principles of scrupulous waste collection, as well as the creation 
of complex metabolic systems of ecological and industrial parks. The reform was not 
fully implemented due to a number of internal shortcomings: some regional operators 
were not environmentally responsible; the separate collection infrastructure was not 
convenient for citizens in some regions; tariffs for the population and extended producer 
responsibility schemes were not developed, including a project to tax companies 
for packaging; the waste recycling targets laid down in the Industrial Development 
Strategy turned out to be inconsistent with the content and implementation of the waste 
management hierarchy; and there was excessive bureaucratization, as a result of which 
the already implemented recycling schemes with the help of small waste collection 
companies in small towns could not compete with the newly arrived regional operator.



Changing Societies & Personalities, 2022, Vol. 6, No. 4, pp. 858–883 871

As one academic interviewee stated:

We need a waste incineration plant. Waste sorting lines are only suitable for 
the “fresh stuff,” the waste that has just been collected and is being taken 
to a sorting station at once. The thing is, if waste spends half a year lying in 
a landfill while the seasons change, it is no longer suitable for sorting. This is 
why we need a waste incineration plant to simply get rid of the solid domestic 
waste landfill. Though this is not a solution for the newly generated waste. (The 
representative of academia, personal communication, May 13, 2018; trans. by 
P. E., Yu. E., & D. E.) 

Although currently there are 14,000 companies with a license for waste disposal, 
only about 200 enterprises specialize in waste reclamation and the acquisition of 
secondary raw materials. The necessity of implementing waste sorting to 100% for the 
replenishment of the raw materials base is a major challenge. The amendments to the 
legislation did not trigger any internal changes in the economic flows in 2014–2019, 
including the stagnant demand for the final product (derivative products), lack of raw 
materials for recycling (inability to ensure a stable supply is a result of not having an 
effective system of waste collection and the lack of sorting capacities), and others. 

Compared to 2010, the cost of environmental protection almost doubled in 2015 
and continues to grow, while the beneficial use of waste remains at an unjustifiably 
low level. While the financial flows are directed at the remediation of the landfills and 
construction of WIPs, the imbalance in the distribution of waste flows will also persist. 
Investments into the main capital intended for the protection of the environment from 
the harmful effects of the waste comprised 8.423 billion rubles in 2016 according to 
the Russian Federal State Statistics Service, which is 33% less compared to 2015 
(Krasnoshchekov & Olgarenko, 2019). The major portion of these investments is still 
used for the construction and remediation of MSW landfills. 

In the course of establishing a single system and registry of the regional 
waste management schemes, internal communication mismatches surfaced in 
the constituent elements of the consumption and recycling node, such as the lack 
of recycling capacities, and lack of regional operators in several regions and the 
expansion of landfills, etc. This leads to a further environmental imbalance that 
begets new socio-ecological conflicts (Node 3). Stagnant demand for the final product 
(derivative products) continues.

Despite the escalating environmental issues, the last link in the metabolic 
chain (recycling) has slowly become bigger, and over the past ten years, the overall 
percentage of recycling of different elements of waste increased by 3–5%. The 
recycled paper market is the leader of the Russian reclamation sector with 2.9 million 
tons of secondary raw materials employed with a recovery efficiency of 27%. In 2017, 
11% of the recycled pulp collected in Russia was shipped for export. The recovery 
efficiency of plastic and rubber-containing waste is significantly lower (10–15%), 
which is associated with the fact that the biggest part of such waste is generated by 
the population (Volkova, 2018).

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872 Polina O. Ermolaeva, Yulia V. Ermolaeva, Dmitry V. Efremenko

By 2024, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation in 
cooperation with the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment is supposed 
to launch a new MSW management system employing some kind of a public-private 
partnership where the government can cover up to 30% of the expenses on the 
establishment of the sector, which is meant to connect the metabolic chains of the 
technological infrastructure and businesses (Volkova, 2018). 

Node 2. Socio-Environmental Consequences of the Changes in the Area of 
MSW Disposal in Russian Megalopolises (see Fig. 1)
Russian dumping sites release 1.5 million tons of methane and 21.5 million tons 
of CO2 into the atmosphere every year (Ferapontov, 2018). The environmental load 
is indicated in Table 1. 

Table 1 
Environmental Waste Impact 
Impact on soil and water Residues resulting from the incineration of household waste 

classified as hazardous. Infiltrates and ash from incinerated 
wastes of the following elements, which in excess can be harmful 
to the environment and humans: mercury, lead, arsenic, cadmium, 
chromium, some heavy metals, asbestos, radioactive elements 
including medicines (Ob utverzhdenii sanitarnykh pravil, 2021)

Impact on atmosphere Waste incineration is one source of dioxins and furans, the most 
toxic of all persistent organic pollutants (POPs), and include 
polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (dioxins 
and furans or PCDD/DF), but are not limited to them. In emissions 
MSW also contains other dioxin-like compounds, for example, 
polychlorinated naphthalene. Dioxins and furans are defined in 
the Stockholm Convention on persistent organic pollutants as 
unintentional POPs. Also, depending on the quality and degree 
of purification in waste, solid particles can form from sulfur 
dioxide. Landfills without special equipment and uncontrolled 
landfills may generate excess landfill gases—methane, carbon 
dioxide, nitrogen oxides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) 
(Stockholm Convention, n.d.)

Costs of operating 
landfills and incinerators 
that are close to 
residential areas

Smell, visual impact, parasites (insects, rats), heavy transport 
traffic, noise (Eldesbaev et al., 2015)

Social aspects Related conflicts with unfair distribution. Environment and 
competition for land (between different social classes and 
households) 

Land use Land use sites designated for landfills and other waste treatment, 
as well as waste disposal sites, are unsuitable for agriculture, 
construction and recreation

Possible long-term 
effects

Loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services (regulating services, 
cultural, supply services, and in cases of dishonest operation of 
landfills emergency situations are possible—fires due to possible 
spontaneous combustion of landfills) (Bobylev & Zakharov, 2009)



Changing Societies & Personalities, 2022, Vol. 6, No. 4, pp. 858–883 873

Municipal waste can contain significant amounts of toxic chemicals. According 
to the literature, the average concentrations of heavy metals (zinc, manganese, 
copper, chromium, lead, mercury, etc.) in MSW have increased by 1.6–3 times over 
the past four decades (Cherniaeva, 2013). In the 80–90s of the last century, it was 
found that compost made from household waste significantly exceeds the content 
in soils in terms of the presence of a number of toxic elements (the content of lead, 
zinc, copper, molybdenum, silver and ten times greater—mercury) (Shcherbo, 
2002). Currently, more than 100 substances defined as hazardous are used in 
everyday life. First of all, heavy metals are emitted (cadmium and nickel contained 
in batteries, consumer electronics, plastics, paints; lead—in paint, electrical wiring, 
batteries; mercury—in fluorescent lamps, etc.), various types of pesticides, as well 
as substances contained in cleaning products, varnishes, etc. The combustion of 
polymers, the content of which in MSW reaches 40%, leads to the formation of highly 
hazardous toxicants, specifically polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins, benzofurans, 
cadmium and zinc (Onishchenko, 2003). The consequences of the impact of waste 
on the human body are set out in Table 2.
Table 2 
The Burden of Waste on the Body, Inherent in Working Landfills and Living Close 
to Unequipped Landfills and Incinerators
1. Central nervous 
system

The main target organ is the brain, especially the harmful effects
rendered by lead, beryllium, arsenic, antimony, polychlorinated 
biphenyls (PCBs)

2. Digestive and urinary 
systems

The main target organs are the liver and kidneys. The impact is 
caused by lead, cadmium, antimony, dioxins and furans, bromine-
containing fire retardants, vinyl chloride (from PVC), PCB

3. Reproductive and 
endocrine systems

Main target organs are the reproductive glands, but none of 
the effects are most harmful. Impacts are rendered by lead, 
brominated flame retardants, dioxins and furans, and types 
of microplastics containing xenoestrogens

4. Circulatory system Especially harmful effects, impacted by lead and mercury

5. Skeleton Especially harmful effect, impacted by cadmium

6. Respiratory system Target organ: lungs. Increased releases of methane, oxygen, 
carbon dioxide, in excess, can cause human suffocation

7. Total toxin load It can be expressed as a moderate or strong systemic load 
on the body. A toxic load can provoke cancer, provoke both 
reduced immunity and autoimmune diseases, skin diseases, 
general weakness, oxide stress, premature aging, weakness 
and depression

The problem of environmental security is especially pressing for the territories 
neighboring megalopolises that have become the destination of waste export 
for large cities (statistically, 15,000 tons of waste are being exported daily from 
Moscow to the neighbouring regions) (Ferapontov, 2018). In the end, the disposal 

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874 Polina O. Ermolaeva, Yulia V. Ermolaeva, Dmitry V. Efremenko

of Moscow’s waste outside the city limits resulted in conflicts as it did not solve 
the original problem (to establish a waste recycling and disposal system within the 
framework of the Ecology and Clean Country projects). One supporter of the current 
arrangements for waste disposal asserted: 

They [WIPs] are absolutely safe. What is the safety criterion for waste incineration 
plants? Only one thing, the temperature inside waste combustion chambers 
must be maintained at 1200 degrees. In this case, everything burns to carbon 
dioxide, water, and hydrogen chloride in the worst case (if it’s organochloride). 
(The representative of academia, personal communication, April 16, 2018; trans. 
by P. E., Yu. E., & D. E.) 

The media played a great part in the dynamics of waste-related conflicts 
and strengthened the support of civil interests. Citizens living in the vicinity of the 
intended waste disposal facilities decisively promoted and combined different 
forms of activism (picketing approved by the authorities, demonstrations, hunger 
strikes), digital activism (petitions and pollution-tracking mobile platforms). Wide 
media coverage supplemented with photo and video reports made it possible to 
attract numerous participants, namely, 4,000 citizens and activists. The tone of the 
publications related to waste in the Russian media changed drastically after the 
traditional annual Priamaia liniia s Vladimirom Putinym [Direct Line with Vladimir Putin] in 
2017, which featured the question of a resident of Balashikha, Moscow region, where 
the Kuchino landfill is located holding over 50 years of accumulated waste. In the 
context of the Russian political and media reality, it meant that the federal authorities 
did not find it advantageous to ignore this problem and were ready to discuss it with 
the public. It was most likely that regional middle-ranking officials would be held 
responsible for the aggravation of the environmental situation there. However, the 
Russian president’s immediate decision to shut down the Kuchino landfill in response 
to the question led to a chain of systematic consequences because the load on other 
landfills surrounding Moscow increased sharply, which resulted in a series of protests 
across the Moscow region. The decision to shut down the Kuchino landfill and the 
introduction of changes into the legislative base forced the SEM associated with the 
generation, reclamation, and storage of MSW around Moscow to transition from the 
regular mode to the emergency mode that can potentially lead to a crisis. 

Currently, waste-related issues are stemming from the fact that the population 
is motivated; they collected signatures and conducted surveys proving that the 
people are ready, while the authorities aren’t. It’s not enough to install separate 
waste collection containers to solve the issue, it’s necessary to establish an 
infrastructure. The first line of battery recycling was founded by a private business, 
not the government. A 10–15% increase in the utility rates is justified here.  
(The representative of industry, personal communication, April 17, 2018; trans. 
by P. E., Yu. E., & D. E.) 



Changing Societies & Personalities, 2022, Vol. 6, No. 4, pp. 858–883 875

According to the Presidential Council for Human Rights of the Russian Federation, 
at the beginning of 2019, protests associated with waste-related issues took place in 
30 regions of Russia. The most hotspots appeared in different communities of Moscow 
region, Volokolamsk's Iadrovo, Voskresensk, Odintsovo, Kolomna, Krasnoarmeisk, 
Serpukhov, Klin, Balashikha, and Dmitrov, where protests were registered. 
The authorities of Tver region refused to accept the waste coming from Moscow since 
it was considered to be an issue of the “environmental safety of the region”; the same 
happened in Kolomna in December 2018. A waste-related conflict directly linked to 
Moscow even took place a thousand kilometers away from the Russian capital, 
in Arkhangelsk region, near Shies railway station, where the construction of a landfill 
was launched to store Moscow’s MSW. Importantly, these protests were characterized 
by the absence of an outspoken leader, unification of participants on a non-
ideological basis with a focus on a specific environmental issue, and their network 
structure. Representatives of the environmental non-governmental organizations 
had been founded long before the aggravation of the “waste crisis” and did not focus 
exclusively on this issue, but undoubtedly, contributed to the protest activity and, on 
several occasions, helped to define the specific demands of the protesters. One of the 
main demands frequently articulated by the participants of the protests is that waste 
should have an owner and must be processed in the territory where it was generated 
(Putin rasskazal, 2016).

The situation associated with the expansion of landfills received widespread 
publicity, motivated the population to establish new movements, “StopVybros” 
and “Dushegubka.rf”, and rendered active the non-government groups that have 
been participating in the organization of waste sorting for a long time (Ermolaeva & 
Rybakova, 2019). In November 2017, Alexander Kogan, Minister of Ecology of the 
Moscow region, announced that the authorities were changing the “territorial scheme” 
because of the local protests.

These conflicts gave rise to numerous direct and indirect processes that 
had an impact on the environmental, social, and political landscape of Russian 
cities. In 2018–2019, the protest activity associated with the issues of landfills 
and waste processing plants was comparable in scale to the political protests 
and even exceeded them in relative terms. Thus, 7,000 people took part in the 
largest “waste” protest in Volokolamsk, while the total population of the town 
amounts to 19,000 people; on August 10, 2019, the largest protest associated with 
the non-admission of independent candidates to the elections in Moscow took 
place, attracting from 20,000 to 60,000 people according to different estimates, 
while the total population of the Russian capital amounts to 12.69 million people  
(Ermolaeva et al., 2021). 

On the one hand, waste-related conflicts united various social groups 
(environmentalists, the academic community, residents, young people, etc.) into a 
single powerful movement resisting the decisions of the federal and regional elites. 
Regional movements supporting waste sorting have been the most active new projects 
(“Eco taxi”, “Sobirator”, etc) and appear to ensure the local support of eco-friendly 
companies specializing in MSW sorting and recycling. 

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Professional growth inevitably led to the strengthening of the personal civic 
stance. The more you realize the damage done by waste incineration, the more 
certain you are about being right, and the easier it is to persuade others on the 
necessity of waste sorting and the development of the waste recycling sector. 
(The representative of a non-profit organization, personal communication, 
March 25, 2018; trans. by P. E., Yu. E., & D. E.) 

The central headquarters of the strongest NPOs promoting a zero-waste 
policy were established, for example, Tsentr resursosberezheniia [Resource Saving 
Center], Otpor [Rebuff], Razdel’nyi sbor [Separate Collection], Musora.Bol’she.Net 
[Garbage.No.More], Dvizhenie EKA [EKA Movement] and others (Ermolaeva, 
2019). Network structuring allows public organizations and action groups to enhance 
each other’s potential while facilitating the organization of joint events. Considering 
the spread of the data transparency policy (online platforms tracking dumping sites 
where anyone can enter data associated with improper disposal of waste and mark the 
spots of unauthorized dumping sites), it becomes easier for municipal establishments, 
companies, and citizens to solidarize locally: local solutions are becoming more 
transparent and legitimate. 

Most large enterprises are introducing technologies that can reduce the negative 
impact on the environment. This includes Tatneft and Taneko as examples. 
When through the introduction of new technologies, we get the effect of more 
rational use of water, we get the effect in the form of a decrease in emissions 
into the air. Also, work has been established in the republic to monitor the state 
of the environment. (The representative of a non-profit organization, personal 
communication, May 01, 2018; trans. by P. E., Yu. E., & D. E.) 

On the other hand, the preponderance of political, economic, and social 
capitals in the hands of the resource groups provoked a certain apathy among the 
originators of civic initiatives, which could cause their erosion and the strengthening 
of the paternalistic position. Despite the protests, the construction of WIPs continued. 
The informational policy of governmental and numerous non-governmental 
media promoted the initiation of a regular and systematic discussion between the 
representatives of the government and civic activists.

The problem of combating landfills in Russia is similar to those in the United 
States, Latin America, and India, and touches on issues of environmental justice. 
In a number of urban areas where there is not a sufficient level of waste processing, 
both landfills and incinerators are the main means of disposal, moreover, they are 
located on the outskirts of city districts (on the periphery). In such areas, a greater 
number of diseases that are related to the environmental situation are recorded, living 
standards are falling, social tension is growing, and, ultimately, people have less 
access to ecosystem services, which provokes an exacerbation of environmental 
inequality. In combination with the environmental burden, inequality is exacerbated 
(Pellow, 2002).



Changing Societies & Personalities, 2022, Vol. 6, No. 4, pp. 858–883 877

Conclusions and Discussion

The health and living standards of Russians are being directly influenced by a variety 
of interdependent processes. Heightened processes of globalization and urbanization 
and the expansion of consumerist values have led to a rapid increase in the amount 
of waste with a consequent growth of unauthorized dumping sites, the construction of 
waste incineration plants, and the aggravation and politicization of the environmental 
protests associated with waste disposal. 

Most of the current studies on MSW in Russia are conducted via specific 
disciplines—Sociology, Environmental Studies, Economics, and Political Science 
which limit the exploration and discussion of MSW as a holistic phenomenon with 
interconnected processes that occur in different systems and dimensions. Our 
key objective that allows our research to stand out from other respective works 
is to show this interconnectedness in MSW beyond the disciplinary boundaries. 
Thus, we made the first attempt to research the processes of waste disposal in 
Russian megalopolises through the case study of the city of Moscow from the 
perspective of the concept of SEM, according to which the life of waste discarded into 
the environment by humans leads to further metabolic transformations. Following 
the tradition established by M. Gandy (2004), we focused on the comprehension of 
qualitative interconnected and interdependent processes and causal relationships 
in the area of MSW management in Russian megalopolises. When reflecting on the 
nature of environmental conflicts triggered by the export of waste from the capital 
of Russia to its neighbouring territories, we extensively employed the approach of 
environmental inequality. 

We concluded that the SEM node that triggered numerous interdependent 
processes involved the changes introduced in the legislation on MSW management 
and the decision to shut down several large MSW landfills without the simultaneous 
implementation of other landfills or WIPs. As a consequence, the new infrastructure 
represented by governmental and private waste processing enterprises began 
to appear, forming the makings of the circular economy and new workplaces. 
New infrastructural transformations were also associated with the appearance 
of a legally secured initiative on waste sorting that accelerated the development 
of the infrastructure in the area of waste reclamation. It gave rise to the formation 
of new practices among the citizens of Russia and augmented their environmental 
awareness. Nevertheless, infrastructural shortcomings and the lack of a large-
scale systematic information campaign in the area of waste sorting prevent these 
practices from becoming routine and, on the contrary, cause a lot of trouble by 
triggering a series of negative metabolic processes (for example, the misuse of 
garbage containers or their “standstills”, etc.) while there was no significant increase 
in the volume of useful waste sorting into different fractions (with the dynamics  
of approximately 1–2%).

The socio-ecological consequences of the changes in the area of waste 
management in Russian megalopolises were represented by such processes as the 
systematic contamination of all environments with MSW decomposition substances, 

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878 Polina O. Ermolaeva, Yulia V. Ermolaeva, Dmitry V. Efremenko

resulting in them directly affecting the health of the population and contributing 
to environmental inequality among different groups of citizens (those who live 
near MSW storage sites and those who reside in relatively safe districts), which 
aggravates social conflicts and tension. This is exemplified by the protests that took 
place in the towns of Moscow Oblast where the waste from Moscow is exported. The 
aforementioned environmental conflicts and protests and the public concern with 
the construction of WIPs led to radical changes in the SEM of the Russian capital, 
its urban agglomeration, and some large Russian cities, and became the major  
risk-genic issues for the urban space. Even though in 2017–2019, the synergy  
of waste-related conflicts and protests associated with purely political reasons was 
avoided, this dangerous prospect persists in the future as the systematic problems 
of MSW generation, recycling, and storage have not been resolved. 

We believe that the proposed analysis confirms the original hypothesis. 
Paradoxically, the metabolic transformations in the area of MSW management, 
that were largely disseminated by the political elite in the media as environmentally 
significant in the area of MSW, brought little temporary change into the SEM of the 
city (for example, the appearance of a new waste sorting infrastructure did not have 
any significant impact on the number of people sorting MSW) while the environmental 
conflicts and tension had much more substantial and irreversible effects on the 
SEM of cities. 

Undoubtedly, the general problem of modern-day Russia that cannot be solved 
when applied exclusively to the environmental challenges is the sustainable 
interaction of different levels of the political and administrative hierarchy and the 
public. At the same time, based on the expert interviews, it is possible to articulate 
recommendations for the mitigation of risks associated with MSW generation, 
recycling, and storage in large Russian cities:

A. Establishment of federal standards concerning the industrial specifics of 
individual cities that ensure the priority of the development of a recycling 
infrastructure to create self-contained metabolic chains in the area of MSW 
management. 

B. Development of economic tools for the support of “green” enterprises and 
increase of the penalties for the major contaminators; introduction of economic 
incentives for the population, such as lower communal charges for sorted 
waste or differentiation of tariffs according to the types of waste, etc.

C. Establishment of a convenient waste sorting infrastructure with responsible 
regional operators.

The opportunities to address the shortage of raw materials in the metabolic 
chain of waste reclamation are found in the development of sorting capacities and 
the stimulation of MSW sorting (both commercial and domestic). Businesses, citizens, 
and the government should have mutual obligations, whose development and 
acceptance should be realized based on the extensive and inclusive participation 
of the stakeholders. The metabolism and waste management scheme should be 
established starting at the regional level while taking into consideration the common 
federal principles, including the focus on a resource-efficient metabolism. 



Changing Societies & Personalities, 2022, Vol. 6, No. 4, pp. 858–883 879

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