Complaints from residents of Kabardino-Balkaria against the waste management company have gone unanswered by authorities.

The landfills in Islamey have been cleared following the prosecutor's office's response, but waste removal from various villages in Kabardino-Balkaria remains a problem, according to local residents interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot."

"Caucasian Knot" also reported that the prosecutor's office filed a complaint with the official waste management operator in Kabardino-Balkaria, Ecologistika, regarding illegal dumps in the village of Islamey. The problem is also common in other villages in the republic, social media users stated.

The spontaneous garbage dumps that had appeared in the village of Islamey were removed after a report from the prosecutor's office and a story on state television. However, the situation has not changed in other settlements in Kabardino-Balkaria: the problems with garbage disposal that local residents had been complaining about throughout the summer persist not only in remote villages but also in settlements near Nalchik.

In the village of Primalkinskoye in the Prokhladnensky District, garbage is collected no more than once every two or three weeks, "and only after residents call the special Ecologistics number several times," Galina Baklanova told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"Dogs tear apart garbage bags, and we have to collect it several times. This all happens right next to my home. Last summer, I had guests from Novosibirsk, and I felt uneasy about it. I even had to write to the head of the republic, and only then did they come and collect the garbage. I then approached the workers and asked them what was going on, why they weren't collecting it on time. They replied, 'We're not paid,'" she said.

"I live in the city of Nartkala, and we haven't had our garbage collected for three weeks," Alla Shogenova reported. Liza Kartlykova from Nartkala confirmed that garbage collection is irregular, creating an unhealthy atmosphere. "Many people have simply started burning garbage; the stench is unbearable," she said.

Commenting on Ecologistika management's references to a shortage of garbage collectors, Kartlykova noted that residents are willing to carry their own waste to and from the garbage truck if the truck arrives regularly.

"On the corner of Lenin and Akhmetov Streets near the Magnit store, they burn grass and garbage every evening under our windows; it's hard to breathe. They've set up a loading dock in the courtyard of the building. The store is completely unsanitary, with constant noise, discarded expired food, rats, and gnats," the woman complained to a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Trash hasn't been collected from the village of Kotlyarevskaya for months, said local resident Irina Litvinova. "Trash hasn't been collected from the village for over a month. You could say the entire village is covered in trash; some streets and alleys haven't had trash collected since May. The trash wasn't even collected for the village's founding anniversary, which we celebrated this year," she said.

All residents of Kabardino-Balkaria interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" are concerned about the unpleasant odor and the possible threat to human health posed by unsanitary conditions and the proliferation of rodents. The waste removal operator, Ecologistika LLC, responds to complaints with standard apologies and promises to resolve the problem in the future. "We're getting formal replies like, 'Sorry, we'll solve the problems soon.' But when will that time come?" lamented Alla Shogenova.

Despite the protracted nature of the problem, the republic's authorities have still not commented on the situation. Ecologistika's management attributes all the complaints to a staff shortage and difficulties finding workers for drivers and loaders. Company director Rustam Kochesokov told the local television channel Vesti KBR in August that the company was short 36 workers, or "12 crews." The company's official social media page advertised job openings for a garbage truck driver with a salary of "starting at 70,000 rubles" and a driver's assistant with a salary of "starting at 60,000 rubles."

"There are very few people in our republic willing to do this work. This is also due to the local mentality, so one of our goals is to instill respect for the work of workers in this industry," he said.

After this interview, social media users noticed that the operator had posted vacancies for garbage truck drivers on the state portal "Work in Russia," stating a minimum salary of up to 22,400 rubles. Activists also collected signatures for a petition demanding the termination of cooperation with Ecologistika LLC as the regional waste removal operator, the selection of a "new reliable operator capable of ensuring timely and high-quality waste removal" through a competitive process, and the creation of an independent body to monitor the waste removal operator's performance.

The petition, which had 7,454 signatures by August 31, was sent to the head of the republic, Kazbek Kokov, the Ministry of Construction and Housing and Public Utilities, the Kabardino-Balkarian Prosecutor's Office, and other authorities, according to a message on the Telegram channel "Road of Truth in Kabardino-Balkaria." The petition's initiators promised to share responses with residents as soon as they were received, but as of 5:50 PM Moscow time today, the channel had not published a single official response to the petition.

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