You arrive at the cemetery—not to Radunitsa, not for a cleanup day, but to your own. You paint the fence, sweep the leaves, and take the branches to a specially equipped spot. You go with this pile, and before you is not a container but a dump. Car tires, old furniture, broken tiles. In a place where people come to be silent and remember, someone has set up a landfill for construction and household waste.

Unfortunately, this is not a coincidence. It's a system. Someone transports an old wardrobe not to the site but to the cemetery. Because it's closer. Because “no one will see.” Because it's easier. While some come with a broom and paint, others bring broken tiles and old tires.

Responsibility here is clear. Placing waste outside authorized sites is a violation of the Law “On Waste Management.” The fine for an individual is up to 30 basic units (up to 1,350 rubles), for a sole proprietor up to 100 basic units, for a legal entity up to 1,000 basic units (up to 45,000 rubles). If the dump is in the forest, an additional article on forest pollution by waste applies—up to 10 basic units.

But the law does more than prohibit—it tells you where to dispose of unwanted items. In Gomel and the region, the waste disposal system has long been established. You just need to know where to take them or whom to ask.

Construction waste (tiles, concrete, wallpaper) is the heaviest category. It cannot simply be taken to a regular container. Construction waste after

Large furniture (wardrobes, sofas, pianos) for apartment‑building residents is stored in specially arranged areas on the container site—labeled “large‑size waste.” They are removed as they accumulate, but no less often than once a week. For the private sector there is a schedule: waste is displayed outside the house on the specified days.

All of this is legal. But the main point is not where the trash ends up, but why it ends up in the cemetery in the first place. A cemetery is not just a place of mourning. It is a territory of memory. And a landfill on it is not a trivial matter, but a direct indicator of how we treat that memory—of our ancestors, of ourselves.