"About half a trillion rubles will be spent in the coming years on solving environmental problems in Russia," reported the Minister of Natural Resources Sergey Donskoy to Vladimir Putin today. The conversation focused on the preliminary results of the Year of the Environment project. In particular, Donskoy said that big enterprises increasingly introduced clean technologies and that recycling factories were built in the regions. One of the large-scale projects in the works is to clean the Volga river. The President, who manually solved the problem of waste deposits this year, had some questions.
Alexander Balitsky reports.
Huge amounts of waste are thoroughly sorted into metal, plastic, paper, tires because there's no point in disposing that which can be recycled and reused. A new complex in Balakovo in the Saratov Region also solved the issue of a huge waste deposit. In Tatarstan, the suburbs of Kazan will breathe in fresh air after a similar factory is launched.
Samosyrovo landfill, the biggest in the Republic, is to be re-cultivated. The idea of modern recycling technologies, which are actively being introduced in the regions, is not new. But it was spurred on in 2017, which was announced as the Year of the Environment.
Vladimir Putin: The year is drawing to a close but measures to protect the environment are never-ending.
Sergey Donskoy: A decision was taken this year to ban the burial of some types of waste that can be recycled. The idea is to prohibit the burial of scrap metal in 2018 and plastics, plastic packaging in 2019. From then on, the waste should be returned for recycling, which will require the development of waste sorting.
- And additional capacities.
- Yes, quite so.
Putin stressed the problem of waste recycling multiple times. After Putin was told about the waste deposit by the Balashikha locals via live phone-in, he tackled the issue personally, and the Kuchino landfill was closed. But it's not the only one in Russia.
Vladimir Putin: We cannot close our eyes to situations concerning waste being redirected from landfill, we have already closed some sites only for waste to be dumped again in on unprepared sites, sometimes even next to residential districts. This provokes a negative reaction from people.
Sergey Donskoy: Yes, Mr. President, it will be very difficult to dispose of the growing amount of waste without the necessary infrastructure.
Vladimir Putin: We must restore order. This is very important for large towns and for the Central Federal District, which includes Moscow and the Moscow Region, I ask you and your colleagues to make this a priority.
A record 500 billion rubles will be spent on large-scale environmental projects, including the creation of 6 national parks. The government will be doing its best to preserve endangered specie like the Persian leopard, or Przewalski's horse. In the summer, Putin personally released a young omul into the Baikal. Experts say their population can be restored within 3 years. Then the President demanded to thoroughly punish the corporations that pollute the Baikal shores and its tributaries.
The businesses bear a huge responsibility for the environment.
The Minister of Natural Resources says big corporations understand it and are closing old-fashioned environmentally unfriendly industries. They are also investing in modern waste treatment facilities. These are also to be built along the grand Volga river, the preservation of which is one of top-priority projects, with the implementation of an improved exfiltration system, and the clearing of the bed and banks. The pollution level will have been reduced ninefold by 2025. The environmental restoration project won't be stopping with the end of this year.
Alexander Balitsky, Natalya Lundovskaya, Alexander Berezhnoy for Vesti.
