Regulatory and legal support for the subsurface waste management and the use of secondary mineral resources in the context of the development of a circular economy

Abstract

The article emphasizes the importance of subsurface waste management and the use of secondary mineral resources in the conditions, on the one hand, of the economic specialization of a number of macro-regions of our country in the extraction of minerals, on the other – the need to take into account the global principles of the development of the circular economy. The authors focused on the controversial issues of regulatory support for the management of circular models in subsurface use. For the convenience of the analysis, the authors distinguish three interacting areas of activity: environmental protection, related to environmental protection issues, including management of production and consumption waste; natural resources, focused on subsurface use, and organizational and economic, based on the organization and promotion of “green” business. Based on their own experience and the opinions of other scientists and experts in this field of research, the authors identify contradictory points in the Russian environmental and natural resource law that do not allow enterprises of the mineral resource complex to fully manage the generated and accumulated subsurface use waste. The authors analyze draft laws in this area, highlighting positive and negative points. The authors of the article dwell on the problems of delineating the spheres of action of the minerals legislation and legislation on production and consumption wastes, the differences between subsurface use waste and secondary mineral resources, the presence of a large number of ownerless rock dumps and waste from processing industries. A special place in the study is occupied by the issues of business organization in the field of subsurface waste management and the use of secondary mineral resources, as well as its economic stimulation by the state. In conclusion, the authors identify steps to improve the regulatory support for the implementation of the principles of the circular economy in the conditions of the mineral resource complex.