Talking Trash in the South Caucasus

Almost simultaneously, Armenia and Georgia have decided to rethink the ways of keeping themselves nice and tidy. Both countries' waste-management initiatives differ broadly, but have one common denominator -- both are likely to increase municipal cleaning fees.

The Armenian version, which allows local authorities to double the current cleaning rate to 400 drams (about $1.07) per family member, took flack from opposition lawmakers. Critics charge that linking the rate to the number of family members fails to reflect socio-economic differences in income and in rates of waste-generation.


“Five or six residents may be registered to reside in the castles of oligarchs, but the leftovers from [their] daily parties are clearly not comparable to the amount of garbage thrown out by an economically vulnerable family,” argued Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutiun parliamentarian Arfik Minasian, Regnum.ru reported.


Another MP, Victor Dalakian, an independent, struck an even more populist note, saying that the Armenian government should concern itself more with an economic situation that has led to "a struggle between dogs and people" as they scavenge through waste, a practice in both Armenia and Georgia.


A proposal from the Tbilisi city government to tie garbage collection fees to electricity bills -- in keeping with a push to unify utility bills -- has proven similarly divisive. According to the proposed formula, Tbilisi residents' monthly cleaning fee will equal the kilowatts of electricity consumed by a household multiplied by five tetri . The city and members of the ruling United National Movement Party maintain that the formula takes into consideration differences in income, but the opposition members on the city council charge it will only lead to a hike in fees.


No garbage news came from Azerbaijan, the richest and most populated of the South Caucasus waste-producers. While Baku's streets are noticeably cleaner than in Yerevan and Tbilisi, Azerbaijan’s fast-expanding capital city was rated as the world’s dirtiest city in 2007 for air and water pollution, and oil industry waste.