The majority of Yerevan’s consumer waste is trucked to the Nubarashen garbage dump. On a daily basis 420-450 tons of garbage collected from the Shengavit, Erebuni, Arabkir and Gentron districts is transferred to this site right on the outskirts of Yerevan. Presently, the dump contains some 7 million tons of garbage. 

As the garbage is stored and piled at the dump a natural filtration process occurs whereby organic wastes decompose and chemical reactions begin. Natural gases are given off which are dispersed into the atmosphere at low concentrations. At higher concentration levels, these gases can self-ignite.

Lilik Simonyan, an expert with the “Armenian Women for Health and a Healthy Environment” NGO states, “As a result of the self-ignition process at the dump the poisonous gases spread by the wind reach people living in the vicinity.”

With the aim of decreasing poisonous exhausts at the 52 hectare Nubarashen dump, under the auspices of the Clean Development Mechanism, an arrangement under the Kyoto Protocol (which Armenia signed in 2002), plans are underway to implement a joint Armenian-Japanese project entitled, “The exploitation and production of electrical energy from natural gases in Yerevan’s Nubarashen garbage dump”. Discussions regarding implementation of the project started back in 2002 and even up till Armenia’s membership in the Kyoto Protocol. The two official parties to the project are the Municipality of Yerevan and the Japanese corporation Shimizu. The project envisages the placement of a 1.4 megawatt gas piston electricity generator that will be powered by the dump’s methane gas exhausts.

Aram Gabrielyan, Head of the Environmental Protection Department at the Ministry of Nature Protection, views the project to be “ideal” given the priority placed on maintaining a clean environment.

Mr. Gabrielyan states, “The garbage dump will be totally isolated from the external environment. You’ll have none of the poisonous gases escaping out like now due to self-ignition. Rather, they’ll power the generator and produce electricity.”

He’s of the opinion that Armenia will not only win from an ecological perspective but that it will obtain energy from its own resources. According to the project the energy produced will be sold to a distribution grid and the profits will be equally divided between the two countries. It’s estimated that Armenia’s net profit will total $300,000 yearly.

$1 million has already been spent to develop the project and for monitoring purposes. The Japanese are ready to invest a total of $8 million to get the project up and running. The power station will take 7-8 months to construct. A final contract between the parties hasn’t yet been forthcoming given a number of reservations expressed by the Armenian Ministry of Economics regarding the expediency of the project’s implementation.

The project stipulates that Armenia must guarantee the collection of organic materials in Nubarashen while the Japanese, with a majority stake, will run the operation. This isn’t acceptable to the ROA Ministry of Economics due to the fact that it rules out the possibility of another waste disposal operator either at the Nubarashen dump or to solve the garbage disposal problem of the entire city.

At the request of the Ministry of Economics a project will commence in September with the advisory assistance of the World Bank and run by the German firm, Fikhtner.

Armen Mirzoyan, Head of the Industrial Policy Section at the Ministry Of Economics, states, “They will be conducting research and offering advice regarding the most correct method of garbage collection and how to insure sanitary conditions in Yerevan. A project will be proposed based on these findings and put out for competitive bidding. Any willing operator can thus implement the project.”

The Ministry of Economics proposes to solicit cooperation between the Japanese and the World Bank and to resolve the entire garbage issue through an exchange of know-how. The Ministry claims that the project isn’t profitable economically since the profits gained will just about cover the operating costs.

The Yerevan Municipality is awaiting the conclusions made by the World Bank. Gagik Khachatryan, Head of the Municipal Public Utilities Department, explains that, “Given that this is an international agreement it must be scrutinized by international experts. We petitioned the authorized government body, the Ministry of Economics, and they in turn went to the World Bank. If the WB gives a positive evaluation of the project, we’ll then go ahead and adopt a corresponding decision.”

Mr. Khachatryan, however, doesn’t agree with the argument posed by the Ministry of Economics that if the entire waste disposal issue isn’t resolved as a result of this, then its better to wait. He argues that, “The problem we initially put on the table was to decrease the level of greenhouse emissions and not waste disposal or garbage recycling. However, of course we’d embrace a project that could resolve both issues simultaneously.”

Diana Mnatsakanyan, who oversees the yearly Energy Saving and Environment Preservation Working Plan, thinks that it’s not possible to delay the implementation of the project since precious time would be wasted. The Kyoto Protocol was enacted to cover the years 2008-2012, after which the signatory nations, including Armenia, would have to assume new responsibilities.

Mr. Khachatryan states, “Let’s have a new operator who will conduct his own research, place trash bins, perform waste sorting and build a factory. All the hard work should be carried out as quickly as possible. Why shouldn’t we operate this project with the Japanese? There’s an agreement with them to provide them with organic materials from the dump, materials that aren’t recycled in any other country, until the year 2016. Let another concern exploit the rest, paper, metals and glass.”
 
According to the draft agreement, if the project succeeds, the Japanese company Shimizu would be prepared to implement similar projects in Vanadzor and in Gyumri.

 Lilik Simonyan, the “Armenian Women for Health and a Healthy Environment” NGO expert, supports the project’s implementation but thinks it’s not a final solution. She calls for the construction of a recycling plant. She says, “Our garbage contains 20-30% of organic wastes the remaining 70% is composed of various other materials-papers, glass and metal which aren’t converted into gas and which continue to pollute the environment.” The expert recounts that many organizations have conducted studies and monitoring on the issue in Armenia but nothing tangible has resulted. She concludes that, “Monitoring expends a great deal of time and money but it always doesn’t produce results.”