Environmental aspects of household waste recycling in Lviv region

An analysis of foreign and domestic literature on the rapid growth of household waste and its management by the population was conducted. Particular attention is paid to developing countries, as well as Ukraine and the Lviv region in particular. In general, waste, including household waste, is one of the most powerful environmental pollutants. It is the improper management of household waste that causes soil, air, and water pollution at the global and regional levels, which negatively affects human health and the state of the environment. Problems with the management and disposal of household waste in Ukraine are very acute. In 2021, more than 90 % of household waste was taken to landfills, only 7 % was recycled, and 1.7 % was incinerated, while in European countries, more than 40 % of waste is recycled. In the Lviv region, 37 % of waste is landfilled, and the rest is taken to natural landfills, which can cause significant environmental risks. The percentage of food and organic municipal waste reaches 50 % of household waste in the Lviv region, which indicates a high potential for secondary processing and composting. Modern trends in household waste management are reduced to environmentally safe and economically feasible recycling, i.e., reuse of waste components. Currently, the following main waste disposal methods are used in the Lviv region: landfilling, sorting and recycling, energy incineration, and composting. The main method currently used in the region is landfilling, but it has significant environmental disadvantages due to methane emissions during anaerobic digestion of organic substrate and contamination of groundwater with landfill leachates. Currently, one of the environmentally safe and economically feasible methods of waste disposal is composting. Organic waste undergoes bioconversion under the influence of thermophilic aerobic microorganisms into high-quality organic fertilizer, which can be used to improve and restore soil fertility. The introduction of modern technologies, increasing environmental awareness, and developing processing infrastructure will help solve the waste problem and improve the quality of life of residents of the Lviv region.