Land pollution by illegal dumps in the Tashkent region

Abstract

The problem of the emergence of illegal dumps in rural areas is considered in the article on the example of the Tashkent region of the Republic of Uzbekistan. It was revealed that the sizes of illegal disposal fields vary from 1.0 to 18,895 m ² , there are dumps for building materials from construction sites, agricultural, household waste, as well as mixed landfills. The continuity of the layer of illegal dumps ranges from 60 to 100%. The roadsides also present long stretched illegal dumps with a continuity of the waste layer from 10 to 42%. For a full-scale assessment of the location, size and composition of illegal dumps, it is recommended to develop a GIS monitoring system.

Full text

Land pollution by illegal dumps in the Tashkent region
M Radkevich1*, F Mukhammadaliyeva1, K Shipilova1, N Umarova 1and A
Gapirov2
1National Research University "Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural
Mechanization Engineers", Kari-Niyoziy str., 39, 100000 Tashkent, Uzbekistan
2Tashkent State Transport University, 1st passage Temiryulchilar, 1, 100000 Tashkent,
Uzbekistan
Correspondence: maria7878@mail.ru
Abstract. The problem of the emergence of illegal dumps in rural areas is considered in the
article on the example of the Tashkent region of the Republic of Uzbekistan. It was revealed
that the sizes of illegal disposal fields vary from 1.0 to 18,895 m2, there are dumps for building
materials from construction sites, agricultural, household waste, as well as mixed landfills. The
continuity of the layer of illegal dumps ranges from 60 to 100%. The roadsides also present
long stretched illegal dumps with a continuity of the waste layer from 10 to 42%. For a full-
scale assessment of the location, size and composition of illegal dumps, it is recommended to
develop a GIS monitoring system.
1. Introduction
The problem of illegal dumps is relevant in many countries worldwide. In developing countries and
countries with economies in the transitional stage, there are problems in waste collecting in rural areas
[1]. Open landfills pose a serious environmental threat.
The amount of waste generated in rural areas increases with population growth and the expansion
of consumption and services. For example, in rural areas of India, 15...18 million cubic meters of
wastewater and 0.3...0.4 million tons of solid waste are generated daily [2]. In Romania, there is a lack
of functioning of waste management systems in rural areas, resulting in illegal dumping of waste in
forest areas [3].
Illegal dumping of waste is observed even in European countries with a developed waste
management system, such as Spain or Italy [1], the same problem arises in the USA [4]. In developed
countries, governments spend huge amounts of money to combat illegal dumping. Only the state of
Kentucky (USA) spends about 4.4 million dollars a year to eliminate illegal open dumps, however,
once liquidated landfills regularly reappear [4].
The problem of handling solid household waste in the Republic of Uzbekistan is quite acute.
According to the State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Ecology and Environmental
Protection in the field of municipal solid waste (MSW), the coverage of the population with sanitary
cleaning services in 2021 increased from 60 to 73%. The bulk of solid waste in the Republic of
Uzbekistan is stored in landfills. As of January 1, 2019, there are 221 solid waste landfills in the
republic, run by organizations of various forms of ownership. Currently, the activities of 5 waste
landfills that do not meet sanitary and environmental requirements have been suspended, and
reclamation work has been performed on 1.5 thousand hectares of 138 landfills.

It must be noted that despite the positive dynamics, these values   are far behind the targets set
in the Strategy of the Republic of Uzbekistan for the management of municipal solid waste for 2019-
2028 (Table 1).
Table 1. Some target indices of the strategy for the management of municipal solid waste for 2019-
2028 [5].
2021
2025
2028
Coverage of the population with services for the collection
and removal of waste
85
100
MSW recycling
25
45
60
Putting the state of waste disposal facilities in line with
legal requirements
25
65
100
Reclamation of liquidated waste disposal sites
20
65
100
Monitoring the state of waste disposal facilities
20
75
100
Information on the ratio of the number of large official and illegal landfills is given in Table 2
(available data refer to 2017).
Table 2. The number of solid waste landfills by regions of the Republic of Uzbekistan
(data for 2017) [6].
Official landfills
Illegal dumps
Republic of Karakalpakstan
17
12
Andijan
15
29
Bukhara
15
26
Jizzakh
10
250
Kashkadarya
16
141
Navoi
9
10
Namangan
12
96
Samarkand
15
86
Surkhandarya
18
12
Syrdarya
12
83
Tashkent
23
96
Fergana
15
15
Khorezm
9
75
Total
186
931
It can be seen that the number of illegal dumps is 5 times higher than the number of official
landfills. Moreover, only large objects are included in the official statistics. According to expert data,
in 2021, all large illegal dumps were assigned to various legal entities and, thus, were transferred to
the category of official landfills.
At the same time, there are many small illegal dumps near settlements, which, due to their small
size, are not taken into account when monitoring, but their total area can reach significant figures. One
of the sources of illegal waste disposal is holiday villages. According to the Tashkent Regional
Department of the State Committee for Ecology and Environmental Protection, more than 50
unregistered small dumps were found near holiday villages near the city of Chirchik, including in the
water protection zone of the Chirchik River [7].
The impact of landfills on the environment is known:

the decomposition of waste in a dump leads to the formation of leachate and gases (mainly
methane and carbon dioxide - greenhouse gases). Landfills account for 20% of global
anthropogenic methane emissions [8];
leachate can seep into groundwater and surface water, poisoning aquifers;
the landscape is changing, its aesthetic indices are deteriorating;
the reproduction of harmful insects and rodents is increasing, the dumps also attract birds, stray
animals - dogs, cats, and in the conditions of Central Asia - wild foxes and jackals. Since the
edible part of waste in landfills is usually in a state of decomposition and mixed with toxic
substances, animals can get seriously poisoned;
the socio-economic impact of landfills is expressed in risks to public health due to pollution of
watercourses, the spread of flies, bad odors, and smoke [3, 8].
Another serious problem is the spread of garbage from illegal dumps to nearby agricultural land,
which leads to a deterioration in the quality of land resources.
For an ecological and economic assessment of the impact of illegal dumps on the environment and
agricultural land, it is necessary to study the number, composition and size of illegal dumps. The
purpose of this article is to assess the approximate scale of the emergence of illegal dumps in rural
areas of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Study territory
The studies were conducted on the territory of the Tashkent region of the Republic of Uzbekistan
(Figure 1).
Figure 1. Map of the study territory (Tashkent region of the Republic of Uzbekistan).
Tashkent region is located in the northeast of Uzbekistan between the western part of the Tien Shan
Mountains and the Syrdarya River; it has a total area of   15,300 km2and a population of
2,907,000 people. The region is subdivided into 15 districts, 241 settlements are located there,
including 16 cities and 18 urban-type settlements. According to the regional khokimiyat, there are
56,000 holiday villages in the Tashkent region. The length of motor roads is 3771 km.

2.2. Research methods
We conducted a sample survey of some districts of the Tashkent region (Kibray, Tashkent, and
Yangiyul districts).
The survey was conducted by direct observations and measurements, all detected illegal dumps
were photographed, and their GPS coordinates were recorded using a smartphone. The component
composition of waste at illegal dumps was determined by the method described in [9]. The area of
  dumps and the continuity of the layer of garbage was determined by the A. Savich method [10].
3. Results and discussion
Illegal dumps were found near settlements, separately located farms, and near highways. In addition to
separately located illegal dumps, it was found that the roadside strip along some roads to a width of
1.5-5 m is covered with garbage (mainly plastic bags and PET bottles, wheel rims, aluminum cans
from drinks, glass bottles, rags, and occasionally construction debris). The continuity of surface
coverage with garbage in the roadsides is small and ranges from 10 to 42%, in some places to 70-80%.
Thus, the roadside was turned into an illegal dump. Plastic bags from the roadside are carried by the
wind to nearby fields, littering the soil, or linger on tree branches, worsening the aesthetic
characteristics of the landscape and endangering birds. Such a state of the roadside was observed on
the roads when passing through many small settlements (for example, the Tashkent-Maysk-Chirchik
road). The roadside lanes of motor roads, passing through agricultural land, away from settlements, are
less littered. The share of the littered part of the roadside of motor roads is on average 27.6% along the
length of the roads. Given that the length of all roads in the Tashkent region is 3,771 km, it can be
assumed that the total length of littered roadside lanes in the region is 1,041 km.
Illegal dumps found in rural areas have a different area, thickness and continuity of the layer, as
well as the waste composition. In general, the sizes of illegal dumps found by the authors range from
1.0 to 18,895 m2.
The dumps ranking by size categories is shown in Figure 2, and by the waste type - in Figure 3.
Figure 2. Ranking of illegal dumps by the area.

Figure 3. Distribution of illegal dumps by types of waste.
1 - construction debris; 2 - agricultural waste; 3 - mixed waste; 4 - household waste
Figures 2 and 3 show that in rural areas the main type of illegal dumps are small garbage
accumulations of a small area, and dumps of household waste and mixed waste predominate in
composition. The continuity of the layer of garbage accumulations is from 60 to 100%. All these
indices determine the degree of negative impact on the environment.
Figure 4 shows photos of some dumps.
The danger of small illegal dumps is the creation of centers of chemical and biological (due to the
reproduction of insects and rodents) pollution of soil, water and atmospheric air. Local residents
periodically set fire to landfills to reduce their size (traces of burning are visible in Figure 4, a, b, c),
which also leads to the release of pollutants into the atmosphere. It is not possible to fully estimate the
amount of emissions into the atmosphere from such fire settings due to their irregularity, although it is
known that the combustion of 1 ton of municipal solid waste results in an average emission of 1.25 kg
of solid particles, 3 kg of sulfur dioxide, 5 kg of oxides nitrogen, 25 kg of carbon monoxide and 0.625
kg of soot [11].
In addition, the occurrence of illegal dumps is often noted near watercourses of various capacities.
About 14.5% of illegal dumps are located directly on the banks of ditches and canals, part of the
garbage periodically enters the watercourses. For example, the landfill in photos 4, e, is located
directly on the bank of the Chirchik River. This dump is located on the outskirts of the holiday village
of "GlavTashkentStroy". It should be noted that holiday villages are a constant source of illegal dumps
due to the complete lack of garbage collection systems. Legislative and regulatory documents on the
coverage of the territory of holiday villages by waste management systems in Uzbekistan do not yet
exist.
Our own observations and a survey of local residents show that the location of most illegal dumps
is unchanged for many years, causing permanent damage to the environment.

a) Near the Boborakhim village (Yangiyul district)
b) Near the Sasbaka village
(Kibray district)
c) Near the Yangiyul village (Kibray district)
d) In the Kyzyl Shalola village
(Kibray district)
e) On the outskirts of the holiday village of "GlavTashkentStroy"
(Yangiyul district)
f) Near the Kirarik village
(Tashkent district)
Figure 4. Photos of rural illegal dumps.

The situation with the emergence of illegal dumps in the Tashkent region is observed in many
countries, both developing and developed ones.
For example, roadside pollution of highways is a constant problem in the state of Kentucky (USA).
Cleaning up roadside garbage costs about $4 million a year, and cleaning up illegal off-highway open
dumps costs $2.9 million a year [4]. It should be noted that, unlike the United States, roadside lanes in
the countryside of Uzbekistan are often used for grazing. That is, pollution of roadside lanes can be
considered in some way as pollution of pastures.
The results obtained in terms of the volume of accumulation and the characteristic localization of
illegal dumps in rural areas of the Tashkent region are similar to the situation in Russia, Romania and
India [3, 8, 12, 13]. Similar to the data obtained by Russian researchers [14, 15], in Uzbekistan, near
each rural settlement, there are dozens of illegal dumps of household and construction waste.
This situation in the Republic of Uzbekistan can be explained not only by the low level of
environmental awareness of the population but also by the insufficient level of functioning or the
absence of waste collection and disposal systems in rural areas. In addition, there is no system for
regular monitoring of landfills. Since small illegal dumps are not only numerous but also extremely
nonuniformly distributed in the area, ground monitoring of all available dumps is physically
impossible. Huge expenditures of labor, time and money are required to conduct a complete ground
control. To detect some dumps is almost impossible, as they are often located in natural depressions in
the terrain.
The solution to the problem of detecting illegal dumps to take measures to eliminate them could be
the use of remote monitoring. It can be conducted using aerial photography, video filming, optical,
thermal, microwave or lidar (laser scanning) sensors. The introduction of all these methods requires
significant financial investments [13, 15]. To develop a GIS monitoring system in Uzbekistan, one
should take into account not only the results obtained by researchers in other countries, but also the
climatic features of the republic. The most rational way seems to be the development of a GIS system
for monitoring landfills.
4. Conclusions
It can be argued that currently in rural settlements, holiday villages and along the roads of the
Tashkent region there are illegal dumps of various sizes, compositions and capacities, which have a
negative impact on the environment. The roadside lanes have actually been turned into long stretched
dumps, although with a low density of the garbage layer.
The solution to the problem of illegal dumping should be conducted in a comprehensive manner.
The following steps can be recommended:
1. Placement of garbage collection containers not only in rural settlements but also on the road
sections between settlements. As is known from [1, 12], the amount of illegal waste disposal decreases
with an increase in the number of intermediate garbage collection points. At the same time, in order to
locate collection points, it is probably necessary to choose the places of illegal dumps locations since
they are already familiar to the local population.
2. Development of additional regulatory and legislative documents on the organization of waste
management systems in rural areas, and separately - on the territory of holiday cooperatives.
3. Environmental education of the rural population. As noted in [3, 16], the development of
environmental legislation requires not only the participation of public authorities but also the support
of civil society.
4. To develop and implement measures to eliminate illegal dumps, first of all, it is necessary to
identify their localization. The most economical method of remote monitoring of landfills is GIS
technologies and remote sensing. Such experience is available in Russia, Italy, Malaysia, Serbia,
Ukraine and a number of other countries [13, 15, 17-20]. However, this method is not currently used
in Uzbekistan. The results obtained in this study can serve as the basis for creating such a system.
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