No Levers to Influence Waste Operator: Tomsk Duma Debates Garbage Problem
A heated discussion on the garbage issue flared up today at the Tomsk City Duma«s committee on territorial development. Deputies, representatives of the mayor»s office, and district administrations took part. For over an hour, they discussed the problem of garbage collection in the city. First to speak was Tomsk Deputy Mayor Nikolai Glebovich, who reported on how many container sites there are in the city and who is responsible for their maintenance.
According to him, there are approximately 4,400 container sites in Tomsk, of which 1,177 are maintained by district administrations, but there is no money for their proper upkeep.
«Due to Budget Scarcity, We Work Based on Complaints»
Acting head of the Soviet District Administration Dmitry Lobynya stated the total lack of funds. According to him, in 2025, 16 million rubles (approximately $160,000 at current rates) were allocated for the maintenance of 222 sites in his district, in 2026 only 6 million rubles (approximately $60,000), and ideally about 32 million rubles (approximately $320,000) are needed.
This amount, he said, includes both one-time works (for example, painting fences) and daily ones: clearing access roads, removing waste not classified as municipal solid waste, and so on.
«What can be done with the allocated money? Due to budget scarcity, we work based on complaints. If there are no complaints, but the situation is critical, a specialist still goes out and cleans up,» added Lobynya.
The City Administration Has No Levers of Pressure on the Regional Operator
Another problem that emerged during the discussion was that since January 1, 2025, the city administration cannot control or influence the work of the regional operator, because the contract with «ABF-Logistik» is concluded with the regional authorities. This was stated by Glebovich:
«The city administration does not have control functions. This is a matter for Rosprirodnadzor (the Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resource Management) or the regional department of housing and utilities. We have neither a contract nor formal grounds, nor the ability to apply any penalty sanctions [to the regional operator]. <…> There are no levers of influence on the regional operator.»
A consequence of this is that the Tomsk city administration can also no longer install video cameras at municipal solid waste sites, as this issue now falls under regional authority.
«We have tested the video surveillance system on problematic sites. The system works. But the authority is not municipal. It turns out that we cannot spend money from the city budget on this system. And on this, unfortunately, we had to stop,» explained Glebovich.
