MOSCOW, September 30. /TASS/. The Clean Arctic public environmental project will offer standards for waste handling and transportation in the Far North. The organization suggests cleanup missions are financed from local budgets, receiving environmental fines, the project's press service said.
"We need to offer unified standards, since the Arctic requires special approaches due to its natural features," the press service quoted the project's leader Andrey Nagibin as saying. "For example, when working on tundra surfaces, heavy machinery must not be used as they damage them irretrievably. We plan to practice the new technology at Eurasia's northernmost point, to where the project volunteers are currently heading. Cleanup missions at Cape Chelyuskin will become annual."
A draft document may be submitted for discussion and examination by relevant authorities by the end of the year, he continued. The recommendations will be in line with instructions, the Russian president issued in 2022 following results of the Ecosystem - Protected Area forum in Kamchatka. The aspects of handling waste and financing the sector were among listed issues. As for financing, the project's leader suggests using the so-called 'colored' payments. This initiative comes from several Arctic governors, he explained.
"The Arctic regions governors have suggested this to me. Presently, eco fines are payable to the regions, they are colored, but often they remain unused as for large-scale environmental measures, such as a landfill revegetation, for example, they are not sufficient. At the same time, they may be sufficient to organize Clean Arctic missions. We realize that cleaning there will be complicated and long, as the Arctic zone is as big as 9.5 million hectares," he added.
The Clean Arctic project has been underway since 2021. It has featured 6,000 people, who have collected 12,000 tons of waste. The fourth season's results will be announced after the two-month expedition to Cape Chelyuskin finishes.