Yevhen Barakh, owner of a waste recycling plant in Zhytomyr, told political analyst Yuriy Romanenko that the unique facility faces a critical situation due to local government actions and the absence of a national strategy.
The businessman noted that despite Ukraine's EU integration commitments for 2030, the environmental sector has seen virtually no tangible success.
"How many actual waste recycling plants have opened across this entire country? One. It opened in Zhytomyr," Barakh stated.
He underscored that he invested significant funds to achieve results unmatched by other cities: "We invested over 12 million euros. Indeed, we created over 200 jobs... We finished the year with a [recycling] rate of about 47-52%... This is currently the best indicator in Ukraine."
According to the investor, the enterprise has fallen into a bureaucratic trap. The plant produced 7,000 tons of technical soil, which authorities previously requested to extinguish fires at the city landfill.
"There was a fire at the landfill... and half the city was shrouded in smoke. There was nothing to breathe... The authorities themselves called me asking if we had this material," Barakh recalled.
However, now that the material is ready, the city refuses to collect it, citing absurd reasons. "The answer just knocked me off my feet: 'We don't know when we will take this because there is snow on the streets.' I said: 'Okay, but what do I have to do with the snow?'"
Compounding the situation is financial pressure. The city tripled the waste disposal fee for the plant while keeping the residential recycling tariff at 22 hryvnias, rendering the business unprofitable.
"On New Year's Eve, they tripled the disposal tariff and imposed the payment on my plant... Why did I do this then? I invested my own funds, paid over 700,000 euros just for equipment," the entrepreneur said indignantly.
Barakh explained why it remains profitable in Ukraine to simply dump waste in landfills: "Burying it in a patch of land is much cheaper compared to destruction or recycling... There is simply a plot of land where everything is taken by default, and I don't rule out that anything can be buried there for cash."
Due to administrative pressure, the businessman was forced to re-register the company in a different region.
"It was re-registered due to incredible pressure on the enterprise in Zhytomyr from regulatory bodies during lawful VAT refund procedures. I moved to Kyiv specifically to ensure the lawful receipt of my own VAT," Barakh admitted.
He concluded that without transparent rules and real, rather than declarative, state support, foreign investors will not enter the sector: "My answer was simple: the state has absolutely no understanding that this is necessary."