Authorities Will Search for Waste Owners Who Dump It in Unauthorized Landfills: The Cabinet of Ministers Approved New Rules

The Cabinet of Ministers has approved a new Procedure for detecting and accounting for ownerless waste. The document defines a unified process by which authorities must respond to instances of abandoned waste, organise its accounting, identify the owner, and arrange for its subsequent removal.

The relevant decision was adopted by government resolution dated 1 July 2026, No. 903, "Some issues of detection and accounting of ownerless waste." The document was adopted in accordance with part six of article 12 and paragraph 14 of part one of article 19 of the Law of Ukraine "On Waste Management."

Why the Cabinet of Ministers approved the new procedure

Previously, while legislation obliged the state to manage ownerless waste, there was no unified mechanism for its detection, accounting, and owner identification. The new Procedure specifies which entities should respond to reports of abandoned waste, the grounds for conducting inspections, how such waste is accounted for, and how its owner is identified.

Its primary goal is to ensure a prompt response to the appearance of unauthorised landfills, minimise environmental damage, and establish legal grounds for cost recovery from those responsible for abandoning the waste.

Who will be responsible for detecting abandoned waste

The Procedure differentiates responsibilities based on the waste's location. If the waste is found within a settlement, the authorised body is the respective local self-government body. If the waste is found outside settlements, responsibility lies with local state administrations.

The document also specifies that the identification of owners of waste generated as a result of destruction during hostilities is carried out according to a special procedure approved by the Cabinet of Ministers in 2022.

Who Can Report an Illegal Landfill?

One of the key innovations is a clear definition of information sources that can serve as grounds for an official response from the authorities. Grounds for inspecting a land plot may include: citizens' appeals, reports from legal entities, information published in the media, materials obtained during state supervision (control), results of inspections using unmanned aerial vehicles, information from the National Police, data from improvement inspections, and reports from public inspectors for improvement and environmental protection. This broad list of grounds allows authorities to respond more promptly to cases of unauthorised landfill formation.

Reports via "EcoThreat" Will Not Always Be Grounds for Inspection

The new Procedure separately states that reports about the detection of ownerless waste through the "EcoThreat" service alone are not grounds for inspecting a land plot. To initiate the procedure, mechanisms provided by the new Procedure apply, including citizens' appeals, reports from legal entities, police information, results of state control, or other sources defined by the document.

However, if the waste is related to environmental damage caused by an emergency or armed aggression by the Russian Federation, a separate Procedure for the operation of the "EcoThreat" service applies, as approved by Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 783. This procedure records facts of environmental harm, verifies them, and calculates damages.

What the Land Plot Owner Must Do

The new Procedure establishes a separate obligation for owners or users of land plots. If waste with an unknown owner is found on their territory, they must immediately, but no later than within 24 hours, notify the authorised body. Such notification may serve as grounds to start an official inspection procedure.

Individuals may contact the authorised body in accordance with the Law of Ukraine "On Citizens' Appeals." Notifications may be submitted in writing, by email, via the official website of the respective body, or through other official electronic services defined by the authority. Legal entities may also submit notifications in both paper and electronic forms.

The authorised body is obliged to register received appeals no later than the next working day after receipt.

What Other Changes Does the Resolution Provide?

In addition to approving the new Procedure, the Cabinet of Ministers has supplemented the List of environmental protection measures with a new type of activity. From now on, these measures will include: sampling at sites where ownerless waste is detected, determining their composition and properties, and laboratory testing of soil, water, and atmospheric air to assess possible contamination. This aims to provide a more accurate assessment of environmental risks and help establish environmental damage.

As of the date of preparation of this material, the full text of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Resolution dated 1 July 2026, No. 903 has not yet been published in official printed editions. Accordingly, the document will come into force after its official publication unless another term is established by the resolution itself.

The new Procedure aims to create unified rules for responding to cases of ownerless waste detection, strengthen interaction between citizens and authorities, and make the procedure for eliminating unauthorised landfills more transparent and effective.

Recall that earlier "Judicial-Legal Newspaper" reported that cameras were installed in Kyiv to monitor where people dispose of rubbish.

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