To the south of Yerevan, just before the tourist sites of Erebuni Fortress and the majestic Khor Virap monastery, a trash can overflows with plastic bags and food waste. The country’s main landfill, Nubarashen, isn’t far from here, but it’s been six days since the trash has been removed. Bystanders on their way to the nearby Yerevan mall don’t seem to pay much attention to the prickly smell of waste.
Nevertheless, city residents are paying increasing attention to the crisis in Yerevan’s waste collection services. According to 2017 data from Armenia’s National Statistics Service, one in five people are dissatisfied with waste collection services in the country. Since September 2018, the Armenian capital’s waste management service has been in turmoil - largely following mismanagement by service provider Sanitek Armenia and the municipality of Yerevan, as well as the previous government’s privatisation of the country’s principal landfill. And this standoff between the company and the city authorities has hammered home the lack of effective regulation, such as a national-level authority to monitor waste management and ensure good service is provided.
A few days after I visited the Nubarashen landfill last month, the Yerevan city administration sued Sanitek for not removing waste for six consecutive days, and to withdraw from its contract with the company. Then, on 3 October, city mayor Hayk Marutyan announced he was “entirely and unilaterally” terminating the contract with Sanitek in a public address.
