Moscow winters are invariably long and often treacherous, lasting from October to early April. This year's is finally over - the sun is out and the snow has melted. But what is left is perhaps much worse than the icy sidewalks and dirty slush: trash, trash, and more trash. As an urban adage goes, "A civilized city has trashcans at every turn." Moscow sure is not looking very civilized this spring.

The blanket of snow, which at least appeared clean, concealed an enormous amount of litter over the winter. Now that the snow is gone, cigarette butts, torn newspapers, empty tin cans, rags, wrappers and even the remains of dead animals that perished in the cold have emerged on Moscow streets.

The Moscow Environmental Protection Committee says that the average Muscovite produces about 350 kilos of litter each year. In a city of 9 million, with 1.5 million visitors (from foreign employees to tourists), this amounts to a lot of garbage - some 3 million tons.

Dealing with Moscow's garbage is no easy task. Trash builds up through the long winter for months and is buried beneath piles of snow, making it difficult to dispose of. This past winter street cleaners had their hands full just trying to cope with the heavy snowfalls. With the arrival of spring, Moscow's 15,000 street cleaners face their busiest period, collecting and removing about 20,000 tons of trash a day.

Trash collection is only part of the problem. Developed countries recycle 40 to 90 percent of their litter instead of burning or burying it. Household trash can be turned into a profitable business, but in Russia, the waste is wasted. Without economic incentives or competition, it is no wonder that urban waste management in Russia is so inefficient.

Moscow has just one incineration plant. It can only handle 4 to 5 percent of the garbage collected, and as a result, tons of garbage are simply dumped at the city's outskirts, (dumping within city limits is illegal). Out in the suburban dumps, the garbage is piled up, leveled with bulldozers, and then covered with a 20-centimeter layer of dirt.

There are 169 legal dumps in the environs of Moscow. Only three are owned by the city, the rest are owned by local governments. Dumps can be a good source of revenue for local governments: they charge from 30 to 50 rubles for every ton of trash dumped on municipal land.

Trash collectors have also found a way to turn a profit. Often the garbage trucks do not take the trash all the way to the designated dumping areas. Instead they unload it somewhere halfway, sometimes almost right on dacha doorsteps. This cuts on transportation costs and brings in a little extra money.

Official dumps occupy a total of 550 hectares of land. Illegal dumping has increased this figure ten-fold. Environmental protection services say that approximately 5000 hectares of land have been turned into unauthorized dumps, and the situation is expected to worsen.

The Moscow region's slow but sure transformation into Russia's most polluted region has finally prompted the, regional administration to take some unprecedented measures. From April 15 through June 1 of this year, special sentry posts are to be set up on all roads leading out of Moscow. Police officers, transport and health inspectors and forest guards will track garbage trucks leaving Moscow and ensure they only dump their load at the authorized sites.

A garbage recycling plant has been built just off the Altufievskoye Highway. The plant is expected to begin operation soon. Russia is finally joining the worldwide push for recycling and better waste management. The plan is that instead of being dumped, Moscow's trash will be sorted. Paper, glass, ferrous and non-ferrous metals will all be separated and recycled. The authorities hope this will generate a profit.

Also a step in the right direction is a Moscow City Government law issued last autumn on the "Commercial use of recyclable materials extracted from household waste products."

As with so many of Russia's reforms, the main problem will be money. Recycling programs and environmental protection measures pay off in the long run, but financing their introduction now is difficult (especially in the aftermath of last August's crisis). It may be a while yet before garbage reform becomes reality.