The cities are the principal hot spots generating different categories of wastes. Waste production in Republic of Moldova cities are shown in Table 10.3. The significance of the decrease in waste disposal in 1993/95 is not clear.  The problems connected with waste collection imply that the decrease in disposal does not necessarily indicate a decrease in generation.  There is no indication that this assessment has changed since, so that it is difficult to develop even a "feeling" for the situation in 1997 (See Chapter "Waste").
The separate collection of various categories of municipal waste, as a precondition for their subsequent reuse, is not practised to any significant extent in Moldova.  Out of the total volume of solid domestic residue, 35% are food scraps, 25% paper and cardboard, 7% glass, 5% textiles, 5% plastic materials, 3% wood, metals, leather and rubber, and 14% stones, soil, soot.

Table 10.3:  Municipal solid waste (disposed of in the towns)

 Source:  DEP, 1997.

The problem linking whith waste management are one of the main problem in field of the urban environment. As example, can by demostrate waste management in the capital city Chisinau.

The capital Chisinau has 650 000 inhabitants, and represents about three quarters of Moldova's industrial potential.  Environmental standards (for air, water, car emissions and waste) generated income of about 1 million Lei (fines, taxes from enterprises)  in 1996.  Enterprises pay a charge of between 5 and 1 250 Lei per tonne of accumulated industrial waste, depending on the type of waste.  The highest tariffs are charged for toxic waste and used oil.

In addition, a special fee of 5 Lei/tonne must be paid by enterprises as well as by individual citizens or families, for the collection of domestic-type waste by municipal waste services.

Revenues go into  an extrabudgetary municipal eco-fund, which in 1996 used its income as follows:

 

In 1989 the City of Chisinau opened a new landfill site, which is located about 40 km from the city.  It has acceptable design and operating standards that include daily cover, collection and sampling of leachate.  However, the site requires additional investment to make use of the remaining capacity over another 10-15 years.

A new concept for municipal waste management in Chisinau is being developed on the basis of a feasibility study performed by an external consultant.  Various approaches are under discussion, including incineration with thermal recovery, and separate collection followed by bioconversion into useful products like fertilizers, biogas, fuel briquettes, construction material, glass, etc.  To estimate the feasibility of separate collection, being an indispensable prerequisite for bioconversion, an experiment involving containers of different colours in a representative neighbourhood of Chisinau with 15 000 inhabitants has been started.  The experiment is to give answers on the composition of waste, and how feasible it will be to change the behaviour of the population.

The feasibility study also addresses a number of institutional and financing issues which need to be resolved, such as:
 

• basic costs of the various technical options/installations
• existing and needed infrastructure (e.g. glass factories, paper plants, etc.) for recycling.
• costs of the land and infrastructure (water, electricity, etc.) for the various options
• legal ownership structure of waste management (public authority, shareholders' company)
• how to make foreign investment attractive
• social components (coping with increased financial burden on citizens, additional employment, school and pre-school education on waste)