At a press conference in the Central Communications Service (CCS) under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, dedicated to the results of the "Taza Kazakhstan" initiative, officials stated that CCTV cameras in the fight against unauthorized dumps have been deemed "impractical".
Dumps, according to them, are formed exclusively outside populated areas - beyond the range of any cameras. Meanwhile, materials from the state bodies themselves, data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, media publications, and the FBRK's own investigations paint a fundamentally different picture.
FACTUAL BASIS
At the press conference at the CCS, the Chairman of the Committee for Environmental Regulation and Control of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, Yerbolat Kozhikov, answering a question from an FBRK journalist about the role of cameras in identifying dumps, stated the following:
"On land plots where waste and unauthorized dumps appear cyclically, we installed cameras jointly with akimats and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. After some time, following the installation of these cameras, dumps no longer appeared on those same plots. They appear further away, at some distance from that plot, outside the camera range. But then we considered the installation of cameras impractical: putting up poles, running electricity, etc. These are all expenses for local executive bodies, so we considered it impractical. There were instances of identification via cameras, but in the current year there are no such instances."
So the official effectively admitted: the cameras worked - dumps stopped appearing on the protected plots. The argument for abandoning the tool was not its ineffectiveness, but the cost of infrastructure.
To a clarifying question - whether the Ministry of Internal Affairs' video surveillance system was used or separate solutions were created - Kozhikov added:
"The MIA's video cameras are located within populated areas. But dumps are identified outside populated areas, where such systems do not exist. And accordingly, instances of stored waste are not identified by us via MIA video cameras. There were previously, but in the last two years there have been no such instances."
As a replacement, the head of the committee mentioned working groups involving the prosecutor's office, the MIA, and ecology departments, as well as drones and raid operations. According to him, it is with their help that 488 sites of unauthorized dumps have already been identified this year.
At the same time, the same Kozhikov at the same press conference acknowledged the problem of recurring waste:
"By the end of 2025, about 10-12% of formed dumps are formed and identified in the same places that were previously cleaned up. In this regard, an operational group has been created, which includes MIA bodies, prosecutor's office bodies, together with local executive bodies we identify those plots where waste is cyclically formed."
So, with a recognized problem of recurring dumps, the department simultaneously refuses the only continuous monitoring tool which, by its own description, interrupted this cyclicality. Alternatives mentioned include satellite monitoring jointly with JSC "Kazakhstan Garysh Sapary" (KGS), drones, and raid operations - tools dependent on periodic coverage but not catching the offender at the moment of dumping.
To understand the scale: according to the official press release of the event, in 2020, over 8,000 unauthorized landfills were identified across the country with a liquidation rate of 66%; by 2025, this number decreased to 3,828, and the liquidation rate reached 97%. In 2026, 15 officials from local executive bodies were brought to administrative responsibility for inadequate control, with fines totalling 3.7 million tenge. So there is progress. However, it is precisely against this backdrop that the refusal of a working control tool seems particularly telling.
WHAT THE MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS SAID JUST A YEAR AGO
The statement about the "impracticality" of cameras came against the backdrop of data that the state itself had published.
In May 2025, the official website of the MIA reported that CCTV cameras help fight environmental violations, record unauthorized dumps in real-time and play a preventive role - knowing about the presence of cameras, potential violators refrain from illegal actions. At that time, 370,000 cameras out of the country's total 1.5 million were connected to police bodies.
In March 2026, the Ministry of Ecology, citing MIA data, reported 577,000 cameras connected to Operational Management Centres (OMCs) and police duty stations out of the republic's total 1.6 million, emphasizing the role of digital tools in the prevention of environmental violations.
Between these reports and the statement at the press conference, several months to a year passed. Camera statistics were growing, reports on their effectiveness were published, and no public explanation of what exactly had changed was forthcoming.
DUMPS "OUTSIDE POPULATED AREAS": WHAT THE FACTS SHOW
The thesis about the geography of dumps also diverges from documented data. Kozhikov himself at the press conference pointed to the Akmola Region (conventionally around Astana) as one of three regions where dumps cyclically appear "very often in the same spots". However, the problem is not limited to the outskirts of cities.
In 2025, FBRK documented several cases directly in the capital: an illegal dump near the Sancy residential complex on the banks of the Ishim River (water protection zone), an unauthorized landfill of about 11,000 sq. m near the government district on lands of LLP "Comfort Stroy", as well as a presumably illegal burning of medical waste in the Saryarka district emitting dense black smoke. FBRK's detailed investigation is available via the link.
Construction dumps inside Astana were also recorded in 2026. In May, in the Baikonyr district, a police drone recorded an illegal discharge of liquid concrete waste directly onto public land next to residential and administrative buildings.
EDITORIAL OPINION
When a department itself admits that cameras stopped dumps, and then itself refuses them - the question of the advisability of such a decision remains beyond the scope of the press conference. The thesis that dumps are formed exclusively outside populated areas is not supported by documented facts.