Astana, 28 October. Kazakhstan has missed its plans for recycling and recovering municipal waste three years running: 23.9% was recycled in 2023 against a plan of 27%, 25.9% in 2024 instead of 30%, and 30.69% in 2025 instead of 32%, the Supreme Audit Chamber found, BES.media reported after receiving the Ecology Ministry's reply to its query.
The auditors also found a mismatch between documents: the national development plan provides for 12 waste recycling projects in 2026, while the ministry's plan has only five; the number of sorting projects matches at seven. The ministry attributed the difference to different timelines and stages of the projects and sees no contradiction. Almaty and the Akmola, West Kazakhstan, Zhambyl, Kyzylorda, North Kazakhstan, East Kazakhstan and Ulytau regions missed their targets because of a lack of sorting lines and recycling plants.
Under concessional financing at 3% a year, 72 projects have been approved or are being prepared: 42 for recycling, 19 for sorting and 11 for buying specialised vehicles; 33 have received funding and 14 are operating. The target is to recycle 40% of municipal waste by 2030.
What it means: The share of recycled waste is rising, but more slowly than the state planned, leaving almost 10 percentage points to the 2030 target of 40%. Auditors called for a review of how investment in the sector is approached.
Who benefits: Companies building sorting and recycling capacity, which get loans at 3%. Residents of lagging regions still get landfills instead of recycling.
Background: Municipal waste is household rubbish from homes, organisations and streets; recycling means sorting it and using it as raw material, while recovery means disposing of it with energy or other benefit.
