The failure to evacuate residential waste in a regular manner leads to environmental pollution and worsens the epidemic situation in Moldova. Environmentalists say the situation can be improved by raising fines for those who violate sanitary rules and by increasing waste disposal rates. Waste management issues formed the key part of a regional seminar, held on Tuesday, March 25, which brought together representatives from 12 districts from central Moldova. The seminar’s participants highlighted the results of the 2007 clean-up efforts, as well as the steps to be taken to increase the efficiency of those efforts. In this connection, the representatives of local authorities solicited more financial resources from the state budget to build authorized waste-yards. “There is not a single settlement in the country that would have a dumpsite meeting key hygiene standards”, said Vladimir Garaba, chairman of the Moldovan Environmental Movement’s Chisinau branch. Specialists say that an impediment to the clean-up efforts in the municipality of Chisinau is the shortage of hands – 435 employees, as against more than a thousand needed, and the low salaries are considered to be the main reason why very few people accept to take such a job. A solution to make clean-up efforts more efficient would be to build a modern waste recycling facility in Chisinau, said Chisinau Deputy Mayor Vlad Cotet. He vowed to present a relevant project to the City Council next time it meets. The participants also highlighted the need for an information campaign to raise awareness of pollution and encourage people to clean up the communities they live in. The volume of residential waste collected and disposed of last year was 840,000 cubic meters. The territorial centers of preventive medicine imposed fines on 315 natural and legal entities, in addition to 1,069 warnings and 114 cease-and-desist orders issued.