Earlier in the year, the Mongolian government formed a working group for effectively using the new coal briquettes produced by the Tavan Tolgoi Fuel Company. Currently, officials have been working on a project for recycling ash from coal briquettes. A survey showed that 168,000 tonnes of ash could be annually generated by the 202,000 households in Ulaanbaatar which are now using them as an alternative to raw coal. In collaboration with the Building Material Manufacturers’ Association of Mongolia, the working group tested productions of paver blocks and eco blocks.

The project is planned to be implemented on a pilot basis for one to two ger sub-districts in each district; here ash handling and transport activities will be carried out. The ash will be collected and transported once or twice every two weeks.

In March 2019, the Mongolian government decided to totally ban the use of raw coal. Smoke from the shantytown ger districts, where over 220,000 families live – or half the population of the capital – has long been identified as the main culprit of Ulaanbaatar’s chronic air-pollution. In the light of the ban, the government has put an alternative product on the market made from semi-coke, a by-product of coal. While more expensive, these fuel-efficient briquettes are said to burn twice as long and emit far fewer fumes.