Center for Natural Resources and Sustainability

Meet Uzakova Shiringul Makhsetovna, a woman who set herself the task to turn Waste into Energy.

Uzakova Shiringul Makhsetovna. Founder and Director of “Minbay Nukus” LLC, established in 2017 in Nukus, Karakalpakstan, Republic of Uzbekistan. Under her leadership, the company provides services for the population in collection and removal of household waste, as well as the disposal, decontamination, processing of municipal solid waste (MSW) and the trade of secondary raw materials and products after disposal and processing of MSW.

Professional background

After finishing school, I decided to become an economist. I knew that if a woman became a doctor, teacher, economist or accountant, she could find a job in her field, both in cities and small towns.

I had interest in fundamental subjects, like mathematics, physics, etc. and it was easier to enter educational institutions of this profile. I have enrolled in the Faculty of Economics, there were no particular difficulties while studying.

I began my career in Nukus at the enterprise “Clay plant” as an administrative clerk for over 5 years. Studied all the details of business management.

I was invited to work in the Homeowners' associations (TChSJ) "NUR ALL", "YKLAS NUKUS". The main job in any TChSJ is working with clients. There were challenging questions on water supply, heating, plumbing. I studied the work of Sanitary cleaning enterprises, i.e. who collects and disposes household waste. I have worked in the TChSJ sector for a total of 14 years.

In 2014, I moved to the sanitary cleaning enterprise “NUKUS TOZALASH” LLC as a Head of the Customers department. Those were difficult times for the sanitation sector. There was technology lacking. The work was hard, but noble, necessary for people and nature. Working with workers, garbage loaders, drivers of garbage trucks, tractors, I always felt that I was doing one of the most noble services. To be honest, many people, acquaintances, friends were at first surprised by my choice, they were sure that the sanitary cleaning domain, the organization of garbage collection and disposal is not female work, they state that it is irregular hard work. But I did it. The workers respected me, listened to me, we organized the work well. I became self-confident that a woman's mind, knowledge can and should manage such a heavy production as sanitary cleaning.

Private sanitation enterprises began to open in the country. After working at a sanitation company for over 4 years, I was convinced that I should open my own business, my own sanitation business. I realized that waste can be used as a source of energy. And in 2017, I founded the sanitary cleaning company "MINBAY NUKUS" LLC and since that time I have been working as the Director of this company.

Challenges

I managed to overcome many difficulties during the work process, and all these were beneficial for me. I learned how to organize work, manage people. Many people do not yet understand that to be a successful person you have to work hard and meticulously to achieve a goal. This is true. There is no success without difficulties.

Constant work is required to collect and remove garbage from settlements, otherwise they will negatively affect the life and health of the people, cause enormous damage to nature. Our work is hard. We are looking for a variety of ways to develop our company based on the best practices of developed countries.

Moment of inspiration

It is the day when my own production, business is created. You should always approach your work as a science. Make decisions based on operational performance, structure processes and find resource-saving solutions.

Acknowledged success

There are no random businesses and people in our sector. There is a high competition. Everyone went through the path of development in this sector, they know the painstaking and the labor intensity of the work.

In a short period, we have managed to expand the production rapidly. We participated in the tender and we were allocated a land plot for the construction of a solid waste landfill. By analysing our activity, we have come to the goal that renewable energy is a necessity. We were one of the first in the republic to formally introduce the separate collection of solid waste at the places of their formation in our assigned territory within the framework of the project and financial support from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). This facilitates the sorting, recycling, processing, sale of secondary raw materials of waste and generating additional income, on the one hand, and reducing the amount of waste sent to landfills for disposal. Thus, by reducing emissions into the atmosphere, we are making our worthy contribution to prevent the consequences of climate change. In future we plan to set up process of recycling waste into renewable energy source at our landfill.

In energy, ecology and environmental protection, prevention of the consequences of climate change, women can work along with men, in these areas there are great prospects for women.