Clean Arctic volunteers begin work in Komi

TASS, September 30. The Clean Arctic project’s volunteers from across Russia began a mission in Komi. They will clean waste from two locations, the project’s organizers told TASS on Wednesday. "Volunteers from different Russian regions have come to Komi," the organizers said. "They have begun the cleanup simultaneously at two locations. They will clean the territory near the local attraction - the Arctic Circle monument, and will also renovate the monument. Another team of volunteers will clean the area near the local motorcycle track - they will remove a landfill and used tires. Afterwards there will be a new cross-road track, a parking and a leisure areas." The organizers have been forming reserve teams for the coming year. Komi’s Governor Vladimir Uiba heads the cleanup mission’s headquarters in the region. Local residents will also take part in the cleaning. Another team of five people continues working on the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago, where on the Yuzhny Island they have collected more than 50 tonnes of scrap metal. A few more expeditions are planned for October - to Karelia, Arkhangelsk and Murmansk regions. The Clean Arctic volunteers have completed tasks in the Krasnoyarsk, Yamalo-Nenets, Arkhangelsk regions, in Chukotka and Yakutia. The Clean Arctic project’s authors are Captain of the 50 Let Pobedy nuclear-powered Arctic class icebreaker Dmitry Lobusov and Gennady Antokhin, Captain on FESCO’s ships from 1982 to 2012. In early June, Captain Lobuzov suggested organizing a "big Arctic cleanup," hoping the joint effort would clean the Arctic territories from accumulated scrap metal and fuel. The program, presented at the Public Chamber on July 5, has been widely supported, including by the president’s ecology envoy Sergei Ivanov, the nature watchdog Rosprirodnadzor, volunteer and public organizations, scientific community and by the Arctic regions’ governors. Photo by Denis Kozhevnikov/TASS Read more