TASS, June 1. The scrap metal, which volunteers of the Green Arctic organization will collect in summer during a final expedition to the uninhibited Vilkitsky Island in the Yamalo-Nenets Region, will be removed in 2022, the organization’s Chairman Evgeny Rozhkovsky told TASS.
Since 2017, Green Arctic’s volunteers continue the cleanup mission on the uninhibited Vilkitsky Island in the Kara Sea. Over four years, they have collected more than 500 tonnes of metal and other waste, 4,000 barrels, formerly used to store fuel, and disassembled six kilometers of a pipeline.
"On the Vilkitsky Island, we have been collecting metal," the organization’s chairman said. "We will fill special reservoirs with the scrap metal and waste - for further transportation. The evacuation is planned for next year (2022). This year, we can’t manage it even physically".
The industrial waste had remained in the Yamalo-Nenets Region, including on the Vilkitsky Island, since the first wave of Yamal’s intensive exploration in the 1960-1970s. Back then, ecology standards in hydrocarbon production were less strict, and the damage was only growing.
The organization will announce additionally the exact number of volunteers for the coming season. The expedition, which will continue for one month, is planned to begin on July 15. It will be the fifth, final, expedition to the island. Presently, future volunteers are taking special training courses.
"We continue a training program for Arctic volunteers," he continued. "The program features about 200 participants. We have online classes three days a week. Clearly, not all of them will go the expedition - only 55 volunteers will".
New directions
In 2020, Green Arctic implemented the Polar Land project in the Seyakha village, where the population is the North’s low-numbered indigenous peoples. During the project, the volunteers in addition to the cleanup organized educational programs and learned demands of the local residents.
In the coming season, the volunteers will continue working with the locals in Seyakha. Besides, they will visit Yamal’s southernmost village - Salemal, where they will remove an illegal landfill and will clean the village territory. The young people will conduct a sociological survey among local residents and will read lectures and organize ecology master classes.
"We also promote the ecological culture; we do not force anyone, we simply show what we do," he added.
What military are doing
The Central Military District’s ecology platoon is getting ready for a trip to Taimyr’s Dolgano-Nenetsky District (in the Krasnoyarsk Region). It is a part of the Russian Arctic zone. The military will organize a cleanup in Volochanka. The Central Military District’s ecology service told TASS the platoon will collect all the gained metal in Volochanka within one season. The only way to get to the village is by a helicopter. No other transport goes there.
Volochanka is a small settlement on the Taimyr Peninsula. The permanent population is 530 people, including a few ethnic Russians. The others are the Nganasans and Nenets - the indigenous peoples. Communication with the settlement differs due to seasons: from December to April people use hard ice-frozen roads, in any other time - only by helicopters.
"This year, the platoon will clean the Volochanka settlement," the ecology service said. "They will collect black metal, we plan it will make 300 tonnes. Presently, the platoon is about to leave Novosibirsk".
The cleanup will feature 32 military (it will be their first trip to the settlement) and 18 items of equipment. The works are planned to begin on June 15 and will continue to October 1. "The ecology platoon will conduct demolition work, the military will cut large-size scrap metal and will do other works. Approximately, they will collect 3-5 tonnes of metal per day," the ecology service said.
According to the Central Military District’s press service, the ecology platoon will have special outfits: winter and summer technical uniforms and warm footwear. All the military have taken safety courses and know how to use special equipment to cut and press metal.
In 2020, the Central Military District’s ecology platoon cleaned the Marre-Sale Cape in the Kara Sea (the Yamalo-Nenets Regiion). The military collected more than 100 tonnes of metal there. According to the ecology service, the collected metal is being uploaded for transportation to the mainland.