Armenia to build first waste recycling plant

By Alexander Pracht

Yerevan will build Armenia’s first waste recycling plant to close the Nubarashen landfill, one of the city’s most polluted and hazardous sites, senior adviser to Mayor Tigran Avinyan announced on Tuesday. The project is planned as a public-private partnership, with two stages of the tender process already completed to select the contractor. No completion date has been set so far.

“The municipality has already initiated the tender package, and two stages have been completed to determine the winning organization that will build the recycling plant,” Kamo Areyan told reporters.

The announcement comes after a large fire burned at the Nubarashen landfill through the end of last week, sending thick smoke over the district, the city’s most underdeveloped, and into other, more densely populated neighborhoods. The site has caught fire repeatedly in recent years, worsening Yerevan’s already poor air quality.

The Nubarashen landfill, which has been in use since the 1950s, has expanded rapidly over the decades and now covers about 53 hectares. Inga Zarafyan, president of the environmental NGO EcoLur, told CivilNet that its continued existence poses serious risks to both the environment and public health.

“All waste is dumped there without sorting, creating a vast area covered entirely in trash,” Zarafyan said. “This is an open burning process, and there is no way to put it out completely. When the fire is put out in one spot, it starts again elsewhere because the core is deep inside. This is dangerous, and although we have been raising the issue for years, it remains unresolved,” she concluded.

Waste management remains a serious problem in Armenia, which lacks adequate processing facilities. Last month, the government opened a new $21 million landfill in Kotayk province. Despite the Environment Ministry touting it as innovative, it remains an open-air dump and has faced sharp criticism from urban and environmental activists.