Anna lives 3 km from the Zak waste processing complex, located near the village of Myachkovo near Moscow. Since the facility opened in October 2019, Anna’s quality of life has declined dramatically.
— In the spring of 2020, we smelled gas from the landfill for the first time, and it made me sick. I have never had an allergy in my life, but under the influence of high levels of pollution I broke out in hives all over my body, Anna said in an interview with The Moscow Times.
Anna and other residents living near Jag Complex, one of the country’s largest landfills, also complain of watery eyes, metallic taste in mouth, headaches, stomach aches and vomiting.
The jug is one of several facilities built in recent years in the area surrounding the Russian capital, home to 12 million people. “Smelly problems” are not limited to Moscow.
“Concentration of toxic gas exceeded the norm by 611 times”
Anna and other members of her community are protesting the unsanitary activities of the Kudam complex near their homes.
RT-Invest, which owns the Jug complex, and regional officials boast that the plant will process approx. tons of garbage per year (almost 6% of annual waste in Moscow), it is an environmentally friendly alternative to the closed Volovichi landfill. This is the main landfill that has worried the residents of the Kolomena district in the Moscow region, where Anna lives, for years.
– Such modern premises will certainly not have unpleasant odors or problems, said Andrei Vorobyov, governor of the Moscow region, during a visit to the Yuk complex in 2019.
However, the reality is quite different.
Anna and other local activists have had their fair share of problems, from suffocation to dumping murky water into the local river. So they decided to take legal action. While authorities still allowed protests, residents organized several meetings and held rallies with various government organizations.
Activists’ concerns are not unfounded – Mosoblecomonitoring, a regional organization that monitors environmental pollution, has confirmed that air pollution near the Jag campus is exceeding limits.
According to an official document obtained by The Moscow Times, in the case of hydrogen sulfide – a toxic gas resulting from the breakdown of proteins – the maximum permissible concentrations were 476 times higher and 611 times higher in the period from September to December 2022. First half 2023
As confirmed by videos posted by residents, garbage being stored outdoors can cause problems with unpleasant odors.
“Borscht with bacteria”
Anna says that despite complaining to the authorities several times about the problems, the pitcher’s representatives are slow in admitting their guilt and taking appropriate action.
– All Discussions Jug campus representatives say they are not responsible for this problem. They say: “So the discharged water is black? According to our measurements, it is clean. Besides, no unpleasant smell comes from our plant,” said Anna.
Igor Ivanko / Moscow News Agency / Igor Ivanko / Moscow News Agency
Workers on a conveyor belt at a Jug waste processing complex
The civil protest in the Kolomna region is just one episode of Russia’s ongoing waste management crisis. The highest Russian authorities are aware of its existence.
In 2019, the Russian Presidential Council for Human Rights noted that no steps had been taken to reduce waste generation. The authority pointed out that Russia lacks transparent waste management systems and that the crisis is leading to increased social tensions.
In 2020, the Russian Audit Chamber described the situation of official landfills as “close to critical” in most Russian regions. Most of them are quickly approaching their capacity limit.
Igor Ivanko / Moscow News Agency
From left: RT-Invest CEO Andrei Shipelov, Rostec State Corporation CEO Sergei Chemezov and Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyov open a waste processing plant in the village of Miachkovo in 2019.
Unlike landfills, facilities such as Jug attempt to recover raw materials such as aluminum and plastic through the recycling process. However, in the long run, these measures do not bring the intended results. According to an independent expert in the field who chose to remain anonymous, this is due to lack of segregation in cities.
– I call the stream of mixed waste passing through such waste processing complexes “borscht with batteries”. It is very difficult to extract useful elements from this mess, the expert said in an interview with The Moscow Times.
Residents are constantly complaining about the ‘smelling problem’.
The expert also drew attention to the national plan aimed at halving the amount of waste going to landfills by 2030. However, it does not specify specific ways to achieve this goal, which is why Russian regions have to resort to controversial methods. Waste burning etc.
– Legal changes adopted in 2019, incineration is also considered a form of waste treatment. However, in reality this is not the case as it involves the destruction of non-renewable resources, said the expert.
According to him, appropriate recycling programs should be developed and more importantly, focus should be placed on total reduction of waste generation.
However, there is a lack of financial incentives for citizens and waste management companies to produce and process less waste.
Igor Ivanko / Moscow News Agency
Jug Waste Treatment Plant
– Authorities are unaware of effective waste reduction measures. Unlike the EU, where this has long been perceived as the right approach, this issue has not received the attention it deserves. The expert said that the best waste is the waste that is never produced.
However, in Russia, decision-makers have not yet realized this. As a result, communities living near the Jug campus continue to post on Telegram about “stinking” problems. This month, the community appealed to Governor Vorobio in a video showing children wearing gas masks going outside and writing letters to Ted Moros (the Russian equivalent of Santa Claus) to keep their neighborhood from becoming a garbage dump.
Despite these complaints, the governor recently assured President Vladimir Putin that there are no problems near landfills in the Moscow region.
– We not only closed the dumps, but also reclaimed them under the federal program. Now this is a completely different reality, said Andrei Vorobyov.
However, residents of the Kolomna region will not give up their struggle – Anna said they will continue until the yuk plant stops polluting the environment and poisoning people. If the campus cannot resolve the issues, activists will seek to shut it down, the woman said.
Anna’s parents chose an apartment outside the city, hoping to live a healthy life away from Moscow.
– I have two children and a garden. I want to live a quiet life, plant potatoes and onions, raise children, not deal with a garbage dump, said the woman.
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