On 8 August the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures has been recognized as the plenipotentiary body for organizing garbage disposal and sanitary cleaning across Armenia, reported news.am.

The government argued that this decision will provide the opportunity to apply an effective, coordinated and unified policy on garbage disposal and sanitary cleaning in Armenia. It will also provide the opportunity to regulate the regulatory legal field, develop models of waste management, “smart” schemes for garbage disposal and sanitary cleaning in settlements, exploit landfills, design and construct new landfills, as well as develop procedures, norms and standards for the closure of existing landfills.

This decision also ended the existing contracts of the Armenian communities with the private garbage disposal companies. This could result in an international arbitration between the officials of Yerevan and Sanitek (Caucasus watch reported).

A few days earlier, Sanitek submitted two proposals to the Yerevan city hall, but did not receive a reply regarding the continuation of cooperation. “Such an attitude suggests that an immediate change in the situation is not a priority for the city authorities. The mayor's office continues to act unilaterally, without developing a clear policy on managing the garbage collection, and instead, the Sanitek's garbage containers are illegally removed by the mayor’s office, the established payments are not made, as a result of which the situation gets out of control. The Armenian government decided to appoint the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures as the authorized body in the field of organizing the garbage collection and the sanitary cleaning for the republic. We hope that this decision will help to resolve the situation,” read the official statement of Sanitek.