"We'll Soon Drown in Garbage": Saratov Residents Mass Complain About Overflowing Dumps

The heavy snowfalls ended a week ago, but the city is still dealing with the aftermath. Residents are complaining not only about snowdrifts and uncleared sidewalks, but also about the buildup of waste at container sites.

In the chat of Mayor Mikhail Isayev, Saratov residents are sending photos of overflowing garbage bins. Many add that the access roads to the solid waste collection sites have been cleared, but the regional waste management operator is in no hurry to do its job: «The access road to the garbage site has been cleared of snow, but the garbage is not being taken out at all,» comments one user.

Today, employees of the administration of the Volzhsky district of Saratov went on a raid to check the condition of the solid waste collection sites. They found violations at least in one area.

Activists of the Saratov branch of the Yabloko party have submitted an appeal to the governor of the Saratov region, the regional prosecutor, and «Citymatica»—the waste removal company that serves Saratov residents. They are asking for the accumulated garbage to be removed and for the supervisory authorities to conduct an inspection of the company.

At «Citymatica» itself, 164.RU was told that after the snowfalls they recorded more than 6.5 thousand cases when garbage trucks could not reach the container sites.

«Where property owners provided access in a timely manner, waste removal was carried out according to schedule. Currently, there are still places that are inaccessible. In Saratov, most of them are in the Leninsky, Kirovsky, and Oktyabrsky districts.»

The press service of the regional operator notes that a heavy garbage truck on rubber tires without spikes cannot go everywhere. If the special equipment gets stuck, then, according to «Citymatica,» it will have to be completely unloaded, which will disrupt the removal schedule.

In addition, in some places garbage bins have frozen into the snow. Freeing the bins from the snow is the responsibility of the owners of the container sites. As a rule, they are owned by management companies.

At the same time, «Citymatica» admits that it has faced an «increased volume of waste,» but attributes this precisely to the inability to reach the solid waste collection sites in a timely manner.

While officials and the regional operator point fingers at each other, Saratov residents are watching the amount of garbage near their yards increase every day. Which is easier to wait for: spring or the garbage truck?