UrBC, Moscow, February 7, 2019. 38% of Russians are unhappy with the state’s current trash pickup and waste disposal practices, the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center’s survey findings indicate.

58% of respondents say they find the situation satisfactory and 38% of those surveyed say they are unhappy about it. When it comes to cities with population of more than one million people and towns with population under 100,000 people, the number of dissatisfied respondents comes to as much as 40%; in towns with population of 100,000 to 500,000, the figure is 41%.

Apart from this, 30% of those surveyed believe these are the local authorities that are responsible for the state of the environment.

Respondents point to air pollution (22%), landfills (16%), polluted rivers and lakes (13%), irregular trash pickup (11%), poor quality tap water (6%), and not enough greenery in local parks and forests (6%) as the most acute environmental problems at the moment. At the same time, 21% of all those surveyed do not believe the country is struggling with any pressing environmental problems right now.

74% of respondents are aware of the so-called waste disposal reform, but only 24% actually know what it is really about. According to the general feeling of the Russians surveyed, the reform is meant to introduce waste sorting/separation/recycling systems (27%), raise the trash pickup fees (19%), and set up United Regional Operator for waste disposal (7%).