A regional information center for waste management is opening in Kopyś

The establishment of the information center is aimed at training volunteer groups of local residents, primarily youth, to identify unauthorized dumps and storage sites of obsolete pesticides and chemicals, as well as containers used for their storage.

This will allow for a final inventory of hazardous chemical accumulation sites and prompt measures for their elimination, which will improve the environmental situation in the region and contribute to the creation of a sustainable hazardous chemical waste management system.

The center's activities will cover three regions of Belarus: Vitebsk, Mogilev, and Minsk regions. To protect people's health from the potential impact of persistent organic pollutants (POPs), it is particularly important to raise the awareness of the local population about the sources of POPs and their impact on human health and the environment.

Therefore, the project includes an experimental plot for growing plants according to organic farming principles – without the use of chemicals. A chemical laboratory has also been equipped to conduct analyses to determine the content of chemical compounds in environmental components: water, soil, and plants.

The opening of the center will take place at the State Educational Institution "Kopys Kindergarten – Secondary School of Orsha District" with the support of the nature protection institution "Ecological Sphere," the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, and the United Nations Development Programme in Belarus within the framework of the Small Grants Programme of the Global Environment Facility.

Photo from open sources.