GRIT Environment

Why Ugii Lake

Ugii Lake in Arkhangai is one of Mongolia's protected freshwater lakes and a major summer tourism destination. Every summer, camps and resorts along its shore welcome visitors — and with them comes waste that has nowhere to go.

GRIT Environment was founded to change that. We set up a community recycling program on the shore of the lake, working together with the local government, tourist camps and the school in Ugiinuur soum.

The first season

30M ₮

Raised in project funding

17

Tourist camps and resorts in a shared collection system

300+ kg

Aluminium cans and plastic bottles collected and processed

118

Students trained in recycling and waste sorting

8

People on the project team

1

Hydraulic baling machine bought and run by the project

From the shore to recycling

How a can left at a tourist camp ends up back in use.

Collect: Waste is gathered from the lake shore and the tourist camps and loaded for transport. — 1
Collect
Waste is gathered from the lake shore and the tourist camps and loaded for transport.

Sort: Aluminium cans and plastic bottles are separated from other waste and bagged. — 2
Sort
Aluminium cans and plastic bottles are separated from other waste and bagged.

Bale: Our hydraulic baling machine presses them into compact, transport-ready bales. — 3
Bale
Our hydraulic baling machine presses them into compact, transport-ready bales.

Recycle: The bales are delivered to recycling facilities instead of ending up in the steppe. — 4
Recycle
The bales are delivered to recycling facilities instead of ending up in the steppe.

What we did

1Partnership

We built a partnership with the Soum Governor's Office and brought 17 tourist camps and resorts around the lake into one shared collection system.

2Collection and processing

We bought and operated a hydraulic baling machine and, over one season, collected and processed more than 300 kg of aluminium cans and plastic bottles.