Volunteers plan first cleanup expedition in Arctic
The expedition is scheduled for late July
Volunteers of the Green Arctic international organization and the Clean Arctic federal project in summer will go to Cape Marre-Sale in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region on a cleanup mission. It would be the first cleanup expedition to that location, the organization’s leader Evgeny Rozhkovsky told TASS.
Earlier, the Central Military District’s ecological platoon collected scrap metal at the cape.
“Selected volunteers, a scientist and a press-machine specialist will go to Cape Marre-Sale,” he said. “They will collect barrels, have them pressed and prepared for transportation – this is the key task. Volunteers will be working there for the first time, as formerly the military were removing scrap metal from there.”
The expedition is scheduled for late July. It will continue for slightly longer than two weeks. About 15 volunteers will go to the cape, but the final number may be clear only when the Yamal Airlines announces which of its helicopters will take the team. One option is Mil Mi-8T, and another option is a more powerful Mil Mi-8MTV, the project leader said.
Other expeditions
In addition to this expedition, Green Arctic plans the final, third, expedition to village Seyakha. In 2020 and 2021, volunteers cleaned the local tundra from scrap metal, wood, glass, plastic and other waste, remaining there from the Soviet times. During the expedition in 2021, the organization presented eight ecology-social master classes for the locals and volunteers. In the current year, Green Arctic will organize surveys and ecology lessons, the company’s representative Georgy Andreyev told TASS.
Green Arctic’s another 30 volunteers will for the first time clean the closed Polyarny town in the Urals Mountains. The town was organized in the Soviet times for development of the Kharbey deposit. At first, heavy vehicles would be working there, and in summer volunteers will collect small-size waste, he added.
Year of Ecology
Earlier, the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region’s Governor Dmitry Artyukhov announced year 2022 in the region the Year of Ecology. However, not only in the Year of Ecology, but quite regularly, for a few years now volunteers have been participating in ecological expeditions to remove the industrial waste, which still remains there after the first wave of Yamal’s development in the Soviet times.
