TASS, July 15. Ecology volunteers will begin on Thursday a cleanup operation on the Vilkitsky Island (the Yamalo-Nenets Region). Within a month they will prepare the earlier collected scrap metal for transportation, the Yamal governor’s press service said.
Earlier, TASS wrote this expedition would be the fifth in a row and, probably, final. A team of ten men aged between 20 and 45 will go to the island.
"This year, under the Arctic Volunteers program the expeditions on the Yamal will feature volunteers from 18 regions of Russia and Kazakhstan," the press service said. "On July 15, ten experienced volunteers will go to the Vilkitsky Island to prepare the earlier collected metal for further transportation."
Since beginning of the project in 2017, volunteers have cleaned a territory of 125 hectares, collected more than 460 tonnes of scrap metal - barrels and unattended metal, the press service added.
The volunteers will also renovate a lighthouse, which was lit on the island in 2019, an old 20-meter high tower. "The lighthouse is of certain historic value, and, when renovated, it will be a part of the Northern Sea Route’s navigation system. Roshydromet has installed its equipment there. The lighthouse will work round the clock," the press service quoted Deputy Governor Alexander Mazharov as saying.
The expedition will continue to August 15. This year, volunteers on the island will have access to the Internet, and will be able to communicate with their families and friends, the press service said. Additionally, in August, 22 volunteers will continue the eco-social expedition to Seyakh, in which girls will also be allowed to take part.
Vilkitsky Island
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.
Since 2017, Green Arctic’s volunteers continue the cleanup mission on the uninhabited Vilkitsky Island in the Kara Sea. The island is about nine kilometers wide and about 18 km long (or more than 40 km long together with the Vostochnaya shallow area).