Illegal Dumpsites in Kakheti Region Repurposed with Help of School Pupils

Two villages in Telavi Municipality, Artana and Karajala, recently cleaned up their illegal dumpsites, foresting the areas in order to prevent future littering.

Following the clean-up campaigns by the municipality, the USAID-funded Waste Management Technologies in the Regions program, implemented by ICMA and CENN, cleared the area of weeds and prepared the soil for tree planting, while the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC) funded Sustainable Forest Governance in Georgia program, which is also implemented by CENN, provided tree saplings for the cleared area.

The 0.7 ha area of the former illegal dumpsite of Artana village was located near a river basin and was covered with weeds and small amounts of construction waste. 130 trees were planted there, including pomegranate, linden, ash, Georgian oak, walnut and maple trees. A team of local school pupils joined in the tree planting process.

Karajala’s former illegal dumpsite was afforested with 90 new trees. The area, covering approximately half a hectare of land, now has a well-structured fence with trees planted along the length of it. School pupils were also involved in the planting process and expressed their strong belief that repurposing an illegal dumpsite is a significant step towards saving the environment. Ligustrum, linden, Georgian oak, ash and thuja trees were planted.

The WMTR program concluded a memorandum of understanding with Telavi Municipality within which the municipality is obliged to maintain the cleared areas as well as ensure the development of a recreational zone.

Baia Dzagnidze