For the first time in a while environmental agenda has become one of the priorities of the state policy — Denis Khramov, First Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation.

At the moment we are facing a challenging task set by the President and the Government of the Russian Federation: to implement a reform that is often seen as development of a new industry. The transformation is basically the creation of a comprehensive infrastructure, including a brand-new system of waste collection, sorting, processing, disposal and burial, using new technological parameters and regimes. <…> We need to recycle 60% [of waste, – Ed.] and dispose of around 36%. Our current figures are much lower — Denis Butsayev, General Director, Russian Environmental Operator Public Law Company .

I am really impressed by the direction you have chosen for the national plan on the environment. These are not only the right steps towards the environment protection; they are of economic importance — Bertrand Camus, Chief Executive Officer, SUEZ.

Everything that is done to defeat trash contributes to the healthcare — Anna Popova, Head, Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing.

Disposal of municipal solid waste is undoubtedly a very important topic. Probably, it is a large social and cultural issue, an issue of the quality of life — Nikolay Tsekhomskiy, First Deputy Chairman – Member of the Management Board, State Development Corporation "VEB.RF" .

It is a really huge problem. <…> It concerns not only the government, consumers or business, it concerns all of us — J.V. Raman, President in Russia, Ukraine & Belarus, Unilever RUB.

I realize that I must leave the world in a better condition than when I came into this world, for my children and grandchildren — Richard White, Vice President for Procurement and Sustainability, Anheuser-Busch InBev Europe.

Development of this industry can become a trigger, for example, for intensification of related industries; it can help transfer the business model of solid municipal waste from ‘grey’ and ‘black’ zones to the ‘white’ zone, nurturing the national economy as a whole — Denis Butsayev, General Director, Russian Environmental Operator Public Law Company .

Both in Europe and in other countries we begin to realize that waste and garbage are a resource — Bertrand Camus, Chief Executive Officer, SUEZ.

We have decided in IKEA that by 2030 all our products will be made from recycled materials — Pontus Erntell, General Director, IKEA Russia.

We bury 97% [of waste, – Ed.]. In Europe, Romania and Greece are close to our indicators – they bury around 90%. The Netherlands and Sweden are on the other end of the spectrum; they bury just 5% of waste, the rest is being recycled — Denis Khramov, First Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation.

We see that housing and utility bills are growing; people often get double bills for waste management, and other fraudulent schemes are used — Vladimir Burmatov, Chairman of the Committee of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on Ecology and Environmental Protection.

We can see that there is no effective dialogue between authorities and citizens, especially when territorial schemes are discussed — Vladimir Burmatov, Chairman of the Committee of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on Ecology and Environmental Protection.

[Waste management, – Ed.] is still a pretty shady industry, because current legislation implies that industrial waste suppliers are worked with in a declarative order: what they declared goes to the statistics. But even out of this officially declared amount only 1.4% are recycled — Kirill Komarov, General Director, State Space Corporation ROSCOSMOS.

We need to build a transparent and convenient unified state information system that would allow to monitor waste. Not to work in a declarative order, but to work with the technology; clearly understand what the input is, calculate the output, see where this waste goes. We need to create a national operator, a national system of waste management that would include the existing waste processing companies — Kirill Komarov, General Director, State Space Corporation ROSCOSMOS.

Regulation is starting to play an increasingly important role. Forty years ago in France, when I was a child, you could go down a street and see garbage everywhere. Ultimately, a regulation was adopted implying certain kinds of punishment for trash mishandling — Bertrand Camus, Chief Executive Officer, SUEZ.

We need to solve infrastructural problems; the number of facilities in the country should be adequate. Moreover, they should be located smartly across our huge territory — Kirill Komarov, General Director, State Space Corporation ROSCOSMOS.

Our goal is to make participation in syndicated financing of such projects attractive for investors and profitable for both investors and banks — Nikolay Tsekhomskiy, First Deputy Chairman – Member of the Management Board, State Development Corporation "VEB.RF" .

Russian and foreign experience shows that the industry can develop, given that the recycling business is profitable and interesting — Alexander Krivolapov, Managing Director in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Caucasus and Central Asia, Tetra Pak.

We need to transfer and expand technologies developed by leading international companies by localizing production and creating joint ventures, taking into account characteristics of each region — Natalia Komarova, Governor of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area–Yugra.

[Foreign countries, – Ed.] have accumulated a lot of experience; some of them recycle up to 90% of waste. We need to adopt these practices — Evgeniy Popov, Anchor, Russia-1.

How to encourage people to separate [waste, – Ed.]? Of course, we need to pay for separated waste, since it turns from waste into raw material for regional operators. They earn money for this, and people should get compensations — Vladimir Burmatov, Chairman of the Committee of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on Ecology and Environmental Protection.

I would support the idea on the importance of changing population’s mindset. <…> It should happen before or, at least, at the same time, but not after we ask people to pay — Natalia Komarova, Governor of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area–Yugra.

The next thing is building a mindset, among the population as well, so-called culture of waste management — Denis Butsayev, General Director, Russian Environmental Operator Public Law Company .

I think that this [waste recycling, – Ed.] is not the final solution for fighting trash, because recycled materials will require further expenses — Toshikazu Arai, Chief Regional Officer for Russia and CIS, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Environment and Chemical Engineering.