The Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Ministry takes measures to implement the unified state policy on waste management, to ensure the development and execution of plans and projects concerning waste management.
Together with territorial authorities the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Ministry constantly works to exercise state oversight over waste management, prevent the burial of secondary material resources, detect unauthorized dump sites, and analyze the availability of properly approved schemes for managing municipal waste in addition to optimizing district-level waste management schemes.
The Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Ministry coordinates efforts to implement the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants in Belarus as well as the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal.
In order to implement the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants Belarus president decree No.271 “On approving the national plan on honoring Belarus’ commitments to realize provisions of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants in 2011-2015” was passed on 27 June 2011. Ensuring the protection of human health and environment from the impact of persistent organic pollutants is a strategic goal of the document. Among other things the Slonim burial site for unusable pesticides was shut down as part of the efforts to implement the national plan.
A government program “Environmental protection and sustainable use of natural resources in 2016-2020” was adopted by resolution No.205 of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus on 17 March 2016. Its subprogram No.3 “Management of persistent organic pollutants” earmarked for completion a number of tasks concerning the safe handling of persistent organic pollutants (the formation and improvement of the regulatory framework on handling persistent organic pollutants; management of unusable pesticides, including those containing persistent organic pollutants, management of equipment, materials, and waste containing polychlorinated biphenyls; the creation of a chemical analysis base to take measurements of persistent organic pollutants and monitor their content in the environment; monitoring of population health due to the impact of persistent organic pollutants; reduction of emissions of persistent organic pollutants as a result of unintended manufacturing, and other things).
In order to fulfill the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal and due to the establishment of the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia the Belarusian Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Ministry takes part in the development of measures designed to align non-tariff regulations in the ecological sphere (with regard to the transboundary movement of waste).
Within the framework of the non-tariff regulation measures with regard to third countries (addendum No. 7 to the Eurasian Economic Union Treaty of 29 May 2014) and resolution No.30 passed by the Board of Eurasian Economic Commission on 21 April 2015 the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Ministry issues permits for the transboundary movement of waste.
As part of the efforts to implement Belarus president decree No.450 “On licensing certain kinds of activities” of 1 September 2010 the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Ministry issues licenses for activities involving possible environmental impact with regard to using waste with hazard classes from 1 to 3, waste decontamination, and burial.