VLADIVOSTOK, September 2. /TASS/. The Norilsk Nickel Company (Nornickel) under its program to clean Norilsk in 2021 will remove 185,000 tonnes of construction waste, the company’s Vice President Andrei Grachev told the Eastern Economic Forum on Thursday.

Earlier, the company reported more than 600 unauthorized dumps, and more than 2 million tonnes of waste, accumulated over 50 years, in Norilsk.

"We have initiated a program - a big cleanup in Norilsk," the vice president said. "We have allocated 40 billion rubles ($550 million) for the program. The program’s term is ten years, and in 2021 we plan to remove 185,000 tonnes of construction waste and 56 abandoned facilities."

The company has organized removing 73,000 tonnes of waste already, he added.

In 2021, Nornickel began implementing a program to clean the territory from industrial and construction waste. Investments in the program will make 40 billion rubles. The company will organize demolishing of abandoned buildings, pipelines, engineering lines, and removal of industrial scrap metal. The program will be organized across Norilsk. The term is ten years. Under this program, Nornickel will make four complexes to process municipal waste.

Under the ecology strategy to 2031 the company plans to invest in 335 events and missions 686 billion rubles ($9.4 billion). The biggest part - 624 billion rubles ($8.6 billion) - will be invested in the ecology program of Nornickel’s Norilsk Division.

Norilsk is the world’s northernmost city with the population of 180,000, where every fourth resident (26%) is employed with Nornickel.

About forum

The VI Eastern Economic Forum is held in Vladivostok on September 2-4 in a hybrid format. The business program’s key topic is "New opportunities for the Far East in a world under transformation." The forum organizer is the Roscongress Foundation. TASS is the event’s general media partner and official host photo agency.