According to the Ministry of Natural Resources, due to the coronavirus pandemic, payments from the population and business for waste removal have sharply decreased: in the first half of 2020, receivables from operators increased by almost 20%, to 46.7 billion rubles, and accounts payable - by 2.8 %, up to 40.1 billion rubles. According to the All-Russian Popular Front, the average collection of payments for garbage from the beginning of 2019 to May 2021 was 79% of the target, more than 80 operators had cash gaps. At the same time, nine such companies risked suspending their work (data from the Russian Environmental Operator).
Nine waste operators are under threat of suspension Business
Read on RBC Pro
US restaurant business guru: only one type of person should be hired
Why you can now fire an employee remotely: new Labor Code grounds
“Cryptocurrencies will grow for another 20 years” - what Paul Holland is investing in
Experts have warned of the risk of mass bankruptcies in the road industry
As “operational measures to increase the collection of payments” for garbage, the head of Sberbank proposes to make it mandatory to indicate a single personal account assigned to the premises in the state information system (GIS) of housing and communal services, and also advocates the introduction of administrative liability for failure to indicate such data, information on the volume of provided utilities services and payment for them.
“These measures will allow payers to make all payments for housing and communal services at the same time, even in the absence of some payment documents, and will increase collection rates,” Gref concludes.
What does Sberbank have to do with it?
The interest in the problem of collection of payments in Gref’s letter is explained by the fact that Sberbank “promotes the creation of a sustainable system for the management of municipal solid waste” and has already approved financing of five projects for the construction of waste processing complexes totaling 14 billion rubles. For example, at the end of 2019, the Spanish waste management operator Urbaser, together with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and several other investors, agreed to invest up to RUB 2.9 billion. to a waste sorting and disposal complex in the Kaliningrad region. Sberbank confirmed its readiness to participate in this project, said RDIF First Deputy General Director Tagir Sitdekov.
Sberbank has already invested about 10 billion rubles. in the construction of RT-Invest waste processing complexes in the Kolomensky, Kashira and Sergiev Posad districts of the Moscow region, a representative of RT-Invest told RBC.
A consortium of RDIF and the Spanish Urbaser will sort waste in Russia Business
The initiative to include payments for waste removal in a single payment system will “significantly” increase the investment attractiveness of the industry for private investment and will multiply the construction of new capacities for processing, neutralization and disposal of waste, Gref concludes.
But Sberbank will be able to earn not only from increasing the investment attractiveness of the industry, but also directly from increasing the collection of payments for housing and communal services and municipal waste. According to the Rossiya Association of Banks, banks occupy about 70% of the market for accepting payments for housing and communal services, and the largest share falls on Sberbank: through its application or branches you can pay for electricity, water supply, gas, municipal waste, etc. According to the head of the payment acceptance company for Alexei Zaikov, in some territories Sberbank accepts up to 30–70% of such payments.
How much does Sberbank earn on commissions?
The utility fee is charged either to the payer, if the bank does not have an agreement with the housing and communal services provider, or to such a company. The average commission paid by an individual or company is about 0.4%. The highest commissions may be when paying for services in cash through bank cash desks in hard-to-reach and sparsely populated areas. At Sberbank, commissions for individuals vary depending on the region: for example, at the Moscow territorial bank they range from 0.5 to 3% (minimum 25 rubles).
For the first half of 2021, Sberbank's net commission income (according to Russian accounting rules) amounted to RUB 227.5 billion. The bank does not allocate fees for the provision of services for accepting payments for housing and communal services in a separate column. In total, according to the Unified Interdepartmental Information Statistical System, in January-June of this year, Russians paid 634.9 billion rubles for housing and communal services, major repairs and residential premises. According to BKF bank analyst Maxim Osadchy, Sberbank’s income from this activity could amount to 1–2 billion rubles. for the first half of the year. For comparison, Sberbank earned 31 billion rubles from commissions for money transfers over the same period. A bank representative declined to comment on this topic.
If the fee for the waste removal service is included in a single payment document everywhere, then the money will first go to a single transit account and then be distributed among companies, notes Natalya Belyaeva, deputy head of the committee for waste processing and secondary resources of Business Russia. Thus, Sberbank will be able to earn not only from commissions for accepting payments, but also from storing money in this account and servicing it, the expert adds.
How do they pay for garbage in the regions now?
Now in Russia there is no uniform standard for charging for waste removal from the population and business, says the head of the Clean Country association (unites regional waste management operators) Ruslan Gubaidullin. “In most regions, the payment for garbage either comes as a separate receipt, or is included in the receipt with the payment for another utility service, most often for electricity or gas. This is explained by the fact that electricity and gas suppliers have a complete database of residents and utility payers, which regional waste management operators do not have access to,” he explains.
The support program for garbage operators has been corrected after criticism from FAS Finance
Contradictions in the law: what applies to MSW
The list of municipal waste does not include garbage generated in the local area. The Federal Classifier of Waste Catalog contains a list approved by Rosprirodnadzor. It is regulated by Order No. 242 and includes:
- street trash;
- vegetable waste generated during the care of green spaces;
- garbage and estimates from cleaning public amenities, squares, parks, and recreation areas.
Law No. 89-FZ makes no mention of garbage generated in the local area. In this regard, a contradiction arises, and regional operators refuse to remove street garbage and waste. The Supreme Court and the Antimonopoly Service clearly classify such garbage as municipal solid waste. Removal and disposal of household waste is the responsibility of regional operators.
Pros and cons of Gref's initiative
- “Including a payment for waste management in a single payment document would help increase the collection of fees for this service from the population. It’s always easier to pay one payment at once than to pay different receipts in several steps,” says Belyaeva. The collection of payments for garbage is better in those regions where they are included in receipts for electricity, and not where payment for this service must be made separately, confirms Gubaidullin. “The electricity or gas may be turned off for non-payment, but the garbage will still be taken out, so it is considered that you don’t have to pay for it,” he explains.
- For example, the Moscow region, with the beginning of the garbage reform in January 2021, introduced the line “handling of solid waste” into a single payment document for 100% of residents of apartment buildings, and in the private sector - into receipts for electricity. Despite the fact that in the private sector the collection rate is traditionally low, these tools help to account for and increase the collection rate of payments for utility services, including for garbage collection, which in January-May of this year amounted to 93% of the target, in June-July - 96% , noted the press service of the deputy chairman of the regional government, Evgeniy Khromushin. According to the press service, a drop of 5–15% was observed only in the spring months of the coronavirus pandemic and self-isolation.
- According to the First Deputy Minister of Ecology of the Chelyabinsk Region, Yana Kuprikova, in Chelyabinsk the payment for garbage is issued by the regional operator as a separate receipt; in Magnitogorsk it is included in the receipt for light and heat. “Including a service fee for waste removal into a single payment document would be convenient and could increase payment collection,” she believes.
- But not all governors are ready to switch to centralized payment for all housing and communal services, including solid waste, since the total amount in one receipt may cause dissatisfaction among citizens, warns the head of the Clean Country. For example, in the Murmansk region, as a general rule, fees for garbage removal are not included in a single bill, since a separate payment document is prepared along with a receipt for electricity, the press service of the government of the Murmansk region reported. It is included in a single payment only for residents of those houses whose HOAs and management companies have entered into a direct agreement with the regional operator and issue such receipts to the population themselves.
New line in the receipt “MSW management”. Answers to pressing questions #Company news
From January 1, 2021, a new waste management system has been in effect. In accordance with it, the MSW removal service is provided by companies with a special status as a regional operator.
Based on agreements concluded with the regional operators EMUP Spetsavtobaza and LLC TBO Ecoservice, the Sverdlovsk branch of EnergosbyT Plus is an agent for the accrual and collection of payments.
In the Sverdlovsk region, Energosbyt Plus makes accruals, collects money and transfers fees for the service provided for the removal of solid waste on behalf of the recycler. Issues regarding the quality of services provided are considered by Regional operators in accordance with the current legislation of the Russian Federation.
Please note that payment for the MSW removal service for the population is reflected as a separate line in a single payment document along with other housing and utility services billed. Payment is calculated according to the tariffs and standards for the accumulation of solid waste approved in the Sverdlovsk region.
The process is currently being debugged and the database is being updated, so when receiving January receipts, we recommend that residents carefully study the new line. To correct the data in the invoice, you must contact the nearest EnergosbyT Plus office or use online services on the company’s website www.ekb.esplus.ru.
We have prepared answers to the most frequently asked questions from area residents:
How will the payment for handling MSW in apartment buildings and private buildings be calculated?
Amount to be paid = Number of citizens permanently and temporarily residing in residential premises * Unified tariff of the Regional operator * (MSW accumulation standard / 12)
If no one is registered in the residential premises (apartment or house), payment will be calculated according to the number of owners.
How to check the correctness of the calculation of fees for handling MSW?
When receiving a receipt, carefully check the correct number of permanent and temporary residents in the residential premises.
What should I do if I need to clarify the information on my invoice?
When contacting the EnergosbyT Plus office in person or through the feedback form on the website www.ekb.esplus.ru, you must provide supporting documents, namely:
a) an identification document (power of attorney when applying from another person);
b) a document confirming the right of ownership (use) of a residential building or residential premises in an apartment building (one of the listed documents: certificate of state registration of ownership of real estate, purchase and sale agreement, rental agreement for residential premises, agreement of gratuitous use, lease contract);
c) a document confirming the number of permanently and temporarily residing citizens in a residential building or house (apartment card, house register, certificate of family composition).
What to do if no one lives in the apartment or house?
It is necessary to provide documents confirming that the registered person is actually absent from the place of registration.
The following documents can be provided as documents confirming the duration of the period of temporary absence of the consumer at the place of registration:
a) a copy of the travel certificate or a copy of the order, instructions on sending on a business trip or a certificate of business trip with copies of travel tickets attached;
b) a certificate confirming that you are undergoing treatment in an inpatient medical institution or at a sanatorium-resort treatment;
c) travel tickets issued in the name of the consumer, or their certified copies. If travel documents are issued electronically, the contractor is presented with a printout of them on paper, as well as a document issued by the carrier confirming the fact of using the travel document (plane boarding pass, other documents);
d) invoices for accommodation in a hotel, hostel or other place of temporary stay or their certified copies;
e) a document from the body carrying out temporary registration of a citizen at the place of his temporary stay in cases established by the legislation of the Russian Federation, or a certified copy thereof;
f) a certificate from the organization providing private security of the residential premises in which the consumer was temporarily absent, confirming the beginning and end of the period during which the residential premises were under continuous security and the use of which was not carried out;
g) a certificate confirming the period of temporary stay of a citizen at the location of an educational institution, orphanage, boarding school, special educational and other children's institution with 24-hour stay;
h) a certificate from the consular office or diplomatic mission of the Russian Federation in the host country, confirming the temporary stay of a citizen outside the Russian Federation, or a certified copy of an identification document of a citizen of the Russian Federation containing marks on crossing the state border of the Russian Federation when exiting and entering;
i) a certificate issued by an authorized person of a horticultural or gardening non-profit partnership, confirming the period of temporary stay of a citizen on a garden or vegetable plot of land located within the boundaries of the territory where citizens conduct horticulture or vegetable gardening for their own needs;
Will there be any benefits for this service?
The service for handling municipal solid waste is a public service and is subject to all the benefits that are provided for public services.
Detailed information on the provision of benefits can be found by contacting the social protection authorities at your place of residence.
