Moscow Garbage: How Much Household Waste is Produced by State Employees and How Much it Costs Taxpayers

Moscow is the most troubled Russian region in terms of waste management. It produces one-fifth of the country's total household garbage — about 11.8 million tons per year. Practically the entire volume is disposed of in the fastest and cheapest way — by waste landfilling. The goal of this thesis is to carry out a data-journalistic investigation using open data of government acquisitions resulting in a ranking of state-owned companies in terms of waste exported from the institution, and the analysis of the volume and cost per cubic meter disposed of in Moscow and the region. The theoretical part of the work includes historical background on the situation with waste in Russia and the capital region, a brief overview of the research, an analysis of the basic terminological and legislative concepts in relation to municipal solid waste and the government acquisitions system. The result of the practical part is the list of the top 25 state institutions ranked by volume of waste produced a year and the analysis of the cost per cubic meter of produced garbage and the amount of waste for each year.