Monitoring of Waste Management in the Central Ecological Zone of the Baikal Natural Territory

Abstract

Quantitative assessments are made of the formation of municipal solid waste, ash and slag from heat power plants (boilers), and logging and timber processing activities in the central ecological zone of the Baikal natural territory. The material and raw material balance method and the normative method were used as the basis, and calculations used potential volumes of waste produced (thematic industrial reference books) and specific indicators adopted for particular federal subjects of Russia. These authors are executors of several thematic research projects of federal and regional status, aimed at the environmental and socioeconomic development of the central ecological zone of the Baikal natural territory (seven administrative districts and one urban district of Irkutsk oblast and of the Republic of Buryatia), which has allowed us, over the last two decades, to characterize, evaluate and predict the development of various economic processes in the environment and society of this territory, including issues related to production and consumption waste management. Variants of a comprehensive solution to the problems of waste management are proposed: alternative sources of energy and heat supply in the central ecological zone (logging and timber processing waste and consumer waste) as well as applications in the construction sector and, in particular, in road construction (ash and slag). The findings of this research can serve as the substantiation of particular managerial decisions on the promotion of the ideology of the green economy by developing further the aforementioned individual types of reuse of waste produced in order to safeguard the World Heritage site, Lake Baikal, and sustainable development of society on its shores.