World Green Consumer Day: Encouraging eco-friendly choices globally and in Kazakhstan
World Green Consumer Day, celebrated on September 28, highlights the importance of eco-friendly habits like recycling, reducing consumption, and reusing to combat the environmental impacts of consumerism. In honor of this day, Kazinform News Agency correspondent reports on practices and green initiatives of countries around the world, including Kazakhstan.
World Green Consumer Day focuses on raising awareness about the importance of adopting green habits, also highlighting the negative impacts of consumerism on the planet and encouraging people to choose eco-friendly products and reduce their consumption. Simple steps like conserving electricity, skipping single-use plastics, and reusing goods can make a significant difference in the efforts to convert to a more eco-friendly lifestyle.
Around the world, countries are adopting various green practices. In South Korea, 61% of household waste is recycled, with residents using special bags for food and mixed waste. Germany recycles 48% of its waste, utilizing a multi-stream system with separate bins for different materials. In Belgium and France, waste collection is paid for based on weight, incentivizing citizens to sort and recycle their trash. Meanwhile, Japan recycles 20% of its waste, sorting it into burnable, non-burnable, and recyclable categories.
Kazakhstan is also making progress in its efforts to promote green practices. Currently, the country recycles 25% of its household waste, the government also has launched several initiatives to modernize its waste management system. 21 projects are being implemented in the regions to build and modernize sorting lines, which will increase their capacity from 1.7 to 4.7 million tons per year and cover cities and large settlements of the country. Also, there are plans to build 37 new and modernize 8 existing plants for the processing of solid municipal waste, which will increase the processing capacity to 1.4 million tons per year.
Companies across the country also contribute to waste recycling. In the North Kazakhstan region, the Raduga company is engaged in the processing of polyethylene and paper, in Shymkent, Eurocrystal processes glass, and in the Almaty region, the KZ recycling company produces paper products from waste paper. In the Kyzylorda region, each district is developing its own waste recycling projects. In the first half of 2024, the share of industrial waste recycling reached 20%, and municipal waste - 22.5%.
Additionally, at the initiative of the Head of State, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the republican environmental campaign “Taza Qazaqstan” was launched in April of this year. Within the frame of this campaign, 2.4 million people, including volunteers, public servants, and businesses, participated in a massive clean-up effort across the country. The intermediate results showed that over 900,000 tons of waste was collected, 2.5 million trees plated, and more than 4,600 public spaces improved.
The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Kazakhstan actively continues to work towards a greener Kazakhstan. The Ministry has already developed a Concept for the Development of Ecological Culture for 2024-2029, as well as a draft Action Plan for its implementation. In cooperation with UNDP, work is underway on a Concept for the Conservation of Biodiversity for 2025-2035, aimed at the sustainable use of natural resources.
