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Environment minister says Russia will shell out $28 mln on Arctic cleanup in 2017

There are a total of 102 areas in the Arctic zone where waste has been piling up since the Soviet era and needs to be recycled

MOSCOW, August 2. /TASS/. In 2017, Russia will spend 1.69 bln rubles ($28 mln) on ecological cleanup in the Arctic zone, Natural Resources and Environment Minister Sergey Donskoy told TASS.

These activities are carried out in accordance with a national project dubbed Clean Country.

"In 2017, several projects are being implemented in the Arctic zone aimed at remedying environmental damage, nearly 1.7 bln rubles have been allocated for that," Donskoy said. He added that cleanup was underway on the Franz Josef Land Archipelago, in the protected zone of the Kuznetsov Stream in Northern Russia’s Arkhangelsk Region and in the Siberian Republic of Yakutia (the Kular gold recovery plant). Besides, solid household waste disposal sites are planned to be rehabilitated in the city of Naryan-Mar located in the Nenets Autonomous District.

In 2012-2015, a total of 40,000 tonnes of waste were recycled and 200 hectares of land were rehabilitated in the Arctic zone. The program was first launched on the Franz Josef Land Archipelago where 44% of the accommodated waste has already been recycled.

There are a total of 102 areas in the Arctic zone where waste has been piling up since the Soviet era and needs to be recycled. The situation in the Krasnoyarsk Region is the most difficult, as there are 52 such areas. At the same time, the Nenets Autonomous District and the Republic of Yakutia are the most clean territories.