Uzbekistan plans to build six waste-to-energy plants at a combined cost of $933 million. This was announced at a presentation during the government meeting chaired by the president on Thursday.

The presentation offered a detailed assessment of the country's waste management sector. In 2025, sanitation services reached 88% of mahallas (local neighborhoods). The sector was equipped with specialized vehicles, scooters, and bins; the areas surrounding 132 landfills were improved; and 47 landfills were shut down entirely.

In 2026, sanitation service coverage is set to reach 90%. To that end, waste management enterprises will receive an additional 300 units of specialized equipment, 80 scooters, and 600 containers.

Plans also call for the remediation of 18 more landfills. The overall landfill reduction target is 32.6% by the near term, and 50% by 2030.

Special focus has been placed on cutting logistics costs, increasing waste sorting and recycling volumes, and reducing the burden on landfills through the construction of waste transfer stations — 28 of which are planned for 2026, with the total reaching 70 by 2030.

Deputy Director of the Waste Management Agency, Shukhrat Khaydar, said in an interview with Uzbekistan 24 that the head of state specifically emphasized the need to raise service quality.

"What will 28 transfer stations actually achieve? First and foremost, they will reduce the operating costs of sanitation companies and shorten the distance between where waste is generated and where it ends up. In other words, economic efficiency will improve significantly," he said.

The presentation also covered major investment projects aimed at generating electricity through the incineration of municipal solid waste. Six plants are currently under construction across the Andijan, Namangan, Fergana, Samarkand, Kashkadarya, and Tashkent provinces, with a combined value of $933 million.

Once operational, the facilities are expected to process 3.6 million tons of solid household waste and generate 1.6 billion kWh of electricity annually.

Director of the Waste Management and Circular Economy Development Agency, Sharifbek Hasanov, noted that five additional waste-to-energy plants are also in the pipeline.

"On the instruction of the head of state, waste incineration plants will be built together with investors in five of our most challenging provinces, at a total cost of $633 million," Hasanov said.

In addition, the president issued separate instructions regarding hazardous waste management. A proposal has been put forward to establish the first integrated hazardous waste management platform in the entire CIS province, to be developed in the Navoiy province.

The project envisions a laboratory-based hazardous waste classification system, physical-chemical and thermal processing capabilities, a dedicated disposal site, and the production of RDF (refuse-derived fuel) from waste materials.

The project is estimated at $260 million and is designed to handle up to 330,000 tons of hazardous waste per year.