A mega-dump in the Paustovsky region
Collage "NotMoscow"
Residents of villages near Ryazan are fighting against a proposed mega-landfill. It is planned to be built 10 kilometers from the city.
"Beautiful forests, where berries, porcini mushrooms, and wild animals roam—this must be protected and passed on to future generations. In the fields, we encounter foxes and hares. Partridges with their broods. Otters and muskrats live there, owls, and cuckoos abound. A whole family of beavers and herons live on the river. A horde of grass snakes crawls about. In the spring, a whole orchestra of frogs fills the Shumka River. Nightingales sing their hearts out. In the fall, there were two pairs of swans on Rivne Pond." — this is how residents of settlements near the city describe the beauty of their land village of Agarkovo Semenovskoye rural settlement in the Ryazan region.
Local residents are protesting against the construction of a waste processing plant, which will require the clearing of forests. Пeticia The petition against such a neighborhood collected about 20,000 signatures. The Ministry of Fuel and Energy and Housing and Public Utilitiescalmed down": No agreement to build anything on this site has yet been signed. However, the land, previously used for farmland, has already been repurposed as a "waste storage facility." Public hearings were either nonexistent or held in secret. "NeMoskva" investigated the reasons for people's dissatisfaction with this "garbage" facility, as well as similar facilities in other regions.
Paustovsky never dreamed of it
On December 22, the Main Department of Architecture and Urban Development of the Ryazan Region issued a decree amending land use and development regulations in the Semyonovskoye rural settlement. The plot with the cadastral number 62:15:0000000:3953 was transferred to the "waste storage and disposal zone." Local residents learned of this before the New Year holidays. They claim there were no public hearings.
100 hectares—the equivalent of approximately 140 football fields—have been set aside for either waste storage or disposal. The villages of Aksinyino, Romantsevo, Vzmetnevo, Berezovka, Matchino, and Agarkovo are located on the outskirts of the mega-dump and within sight. The last village is "luckier" than the others: the boundary of the "dump" site is 50 meters from the village's only well, and 30 meters from the nearest house. Agarkovo and Matchino are located within a sanitary protection zone. The Shumka River is 500 meters away, and Romantsevo, where Ryazan residents go for spring water, is 2 kilometers away.
The population of the surrounding villages and hamlets is approximately 1 people. In the summer, the number of people seeking to experience the outdoors doubles, if not triples.
Residents claim the surrounding area is naturally beautiful—abundant with animals and birds, fish, stunning views, and a place where medicinal herbs are harvested. They also claim it's their "second home." Konstantin Paustovsky.
"I was disappointed to be traveling to treeless places. But as soon as I stepped out of the freight car at the Stenkino station outside Ryazan, I immediately forgot my disappointment. A warm rye air blew in my face. The silence of the fields, undisturbed by a single sound except the distant whistle of a departing train, came close. <…> My thoughts lingered for a long time on everything that was happening around me. I experienced an unceasing joy from my closeness to the land, to Russia. Then I fully felt that she was truly mine. Great destinies and upheavals awaited her. And I knew for certain that the beauty of her fields, her distances, her skies would always remain astonishing and unchanging." — he wrote in the “Book of Wanderings” about Yekimovka, where he arrived in 1923.
The proposed landfill is just a stone's throw from Yekimovka – 4 km.
Besides the residential buildings and the memory of Paustovsky, there's a cemetery near Agarkovo. Patients from a mental hospital and lonely people were buried there. The hospital no longer exists, but the graves with wooden crosses and metal plaques remain. On Orthodox holidays, locals tend to them, bringing flowers and wreaths. A landfill or waste processing plant may be built right there in this cemetery.
"This is death for populated areas."
The Semyonovskoye rural settlement is a cluster of dacha estates nestled among the birch trees. Some houses only come alive in the summer; now the roads leading to them are covered in snow, the buildings are under construction, and there are fields and fields. Right now, it's an unsightly white picture with gray-black patches; in spring, everything will be awash in vibrant colors. The locals love their "Paustovsky land" and, since January, have been posting photos of berries, mushrooms, and wild animals they've spotted in chats and social media.
Local residents learned about the land reclassification around the 20th of December. A week earlier, they had seen flyers in their communities announcing that some specialists would be visiting to provide some clarification. No one understood what was going on, but they left their homes at the appointed time. According to them, no one ever showed up. In January, residents held several public meetings and began collecting signatures for petitions to all authorities. Dozens of people joined the effort.
According to a public figure from the initiative group Anton Ivanov, no one had to be persuaded to sign - people immediately understood the threat such a neighborhood would pose to them.
This is the death of our communities. There's a registered well in Agarkovo, and my parents in Matchino have wells in their yards, and they're all shallow. There's no central water supply. Without clean water, there'll be no life here. We invested in gas equipment, a well, and now what? This landfill will be located on high ground, and all the waste will flow into populated areas and bodies of water. Even if it's a waste processing plant, some kind of storage site will still be created. And no one cares that the villages are over 500 years old—that's how long people have lived here. Now they'll simply be forced to leave, because Agarkovo and half of Matchino are within the sanitary protection zone (SPZ) of the "waste" plant. — the interlocutor described the situation. — Can you imagine what kind of quality of life this would be?
According to him, it would be humane to gather people together, explain the situation, and discuss the immediate prospects. It would also be a good idea to offer those whose homes were included in the sanitary protection zone monetary compensation for relocation. Better yet, look for another industrial site, farther from housing and environmentally friendly areas.
The initiative group has already contacted a lawyer and filed a lawsuit in the Ryazan District Court demanding the reclassification order be overturned.
On "high-tech" and "skillful escalation of tension"
Landfills, waste sorting facilities, and waste processing plants are classified as hazard classes I and II. Their construction is strictly prohibited within populated areas, according to an expert from the Russian Ecological Society, chairman of the Ryazan branch of the Russian Environmental Society, and a PhD in geography. Violetta BlackIn this regard, the Russian Ecological Society joined the discussion of the issue. The Chairman of the Public Expert Council for the Ecology National Project Rashid Ismailov I sent a number of questions to the Ryazan Governor. For example, was a state environmental review of the design documentation conducted? Has the sanitary protection zone been defined, which for Class I and II hazard facilities should be between 500 and 1000 meters? Have public hearings been held? Other landfills are planned for reconstruction in the Ryazan Region; together, they will receive 610,000 tons per year. However, the volume of solid municipal waste generated in the region is 503,000–505,000 tons per year. Why build such capacity if the region doesn't have that much waste? The Semyonovskoye rural settlement is located in subzone 6 of the aerodrome area. Has a permit been obtained for the landfill's construction, in accordance with Article 46 of the Russian Federation Air Code?
Residents sent similar letters to the governor, regional prosecutor Dmitry Kodanev, and Ryazan regional deputy Andrei Krasov. They added that the Shumka River, streams, and the local pond were inexplicably omitted from the General Plan. They also reminded the residents of the "Silver Prudy" children's camp in Sazhnevo and the kindergarten and school in the village of Rovnoye.
"Our area is actively developing: we've installed gas, built a new road, built a large, beautiful community center, installed street lighting and public transportation stops, and people are buying land for individual housing construction and developing private housing. The population is growing. But placing a landfill nearby will make life here untenable." — the residents wrote, recalling Article 42 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation: everyone has the right to a favorable living environment.
In response to the wave of indignation, the Ministry of Fuel and Energy and Housing and Public Utilities answerLo: "This site is being considered as a potential location for the construction of a high-tech waste processing facility. The creation of such facilities is aimed at reducing the environmental impact and, through efficient recycling, will dramatically reduce the amount of waste disposed of in the region."
However, there is allegedly no signed agreement yet for the implementation of any projects in relation to this area.
The regional head "created a fog" regarding the protests: "It's clear how and who is escalating the situation. It's being done artificially, quite skillfully, by clearly understandable forces with a very specific interest in the waste market. And this interest is certainly not for the benefit of the people or the region."
Who did he mean? Oleg Shishov and its affiliated company, Eco-Pronsk LLC (a regional waste operator), or the ubiquitous and culpable "enemies of the people" - it is not known for sure.
Malkov echoed the Ministry of Fuel and Energy and Housing and Utilities' response: nothing has been decided on this section yet. He reinforced the notion that people are being exploited:
"None of this exists at all, but people have been stirred up for no apparent reason and misrepresented. Instead of a waste processing plant, they're saying there will be a landfill. It's very easy to deceive people. If someone comes to you and asks you: are you for or against a landfill under your window? Any normal person would be against it! And as for the fact that it doesn't exist—try proving it later."
Among the dwellings and bodies of water
Descriptions of the locations chosen for industrial waste disposal sites in different Russian regions are almost identical.
"The Stebaevskoye rural settlement comprises the villages and hamlets of Arkhangelskiye Borki, Gudovka, Dolgaya, Krugloe, Lozy, Mahovishche, Nikolskoye, Stebaevo, and Cheremushki. It is home to approximately 1 registered residents, with slightly more, including summer residents and those not registered in their own homes. If a 'massive landfill' were to appear, most residents would have nowhere to escape the stench and other 'charms' of such a neighborhood: some have lived here their entire lives and have no 'backup airfield,' while others sold their city properties to settle down and raise their families in the fresh air, drinking spring water." opisledding location of the eco-technopark in the Lipetsk region.
Locals literally shouted about the repeated sightings of roe deer, squirrels, and endangered birds, not to mention plants, in these areas. There's also an old cemetery. The protests led to police harassment of activists, including violence against children. Despite the negative conclusion of an independent environmental assessment, the eco-technopark is still being built.
"The KPO is planned to be built on the site of the Dubrovka quarry by the end of 2024. The Lazurnaya tourist center is 340 meters away, the Motor and Druzhba gardening communities are two kilometers away, and the villages of Yoksolovo and Manushkino are four kilometers away. The body of water, not officially recognized as a water body, covers 70 hectares, is 11 meters deep, and has a volume of almost 3 million cubic meters. It is replenished by groundwater. It adjoins the source of the Dubrovka River, which flows into the Neva River near the village of Dubrovka. The Neva is the main source of water for St. Petersburg. It doesn't take an expert to predict that toxic waste will flow into the Neva, and from there, straight into the taps of residents of the Northern Capital." in such location Leningrad region The authorities are planning to build a waste processing complex with the Dubrovka landfill. Nearby is the Nevsky Pyatachok (Nevsky Pyatachok), the site of fierce fighting in 1943, where at least 35 Red Army soldiers are buried. Residents are defending their small homeland in the courts, but so far, they're losing.
The list could go on, but one thing is already clear: waste disposal facilities often choose ecologically clean locations with an abundance of water bodies, rich flora and fauna, in close proximity to populated areas and, often, cemeteries.
Employees of the Ryazan regional public organization "Center for Environmental Expertise" conducted an independent environmental assessment regarding the future waste sortersfull-time complex with a polygon in Arkhangelsk Nyandoma. Chairman Galina Kuzmina In a conversation with NeMoskva, she noted that the site is just as unsuitable for a waste management facility as the others mentioned above. For example, high groundwater levels and the location in a flood zone are direct contraindications to the construction of a waste management facility, especially one with a landfill nearby. This risks contaminating groundwater and, consequently, nearby flowing bodies of water, a source of drinking water.
"We've already noticed that waste sorting, processing, and storage facilities are often located in locations that aren't environmentally friendly. I think this is because construction initiators are primarily concerned with the convenience of their location." — Kuzmina suggested. — They need easy access and high-voltage power lines, as waste processing plants are very energy-intensive. Few people think about the environment; its condition is a concern only for residents of nearby settlements.
In her opinion, our laws and regulations are sufficient to prevent the placement of waste facilities and landfills in inappropriate locations. However, their implementation is weak: for example, a landfill will be built in Nyandom. They promise it will be the most high-tech and environmentally friendly.
According to Violetta Chernaya, the Ryazan region has industrial sites suitable for waste recycling. However, for some reason, they are either underutilized or not used at all.
The harm of landfills, especially burning ones, for people and the environment is discussed in the special project "NeMoskva"Мrubbish and flame«.
UPDATE: Today, it was announced that the Main Directorate of Architecture and Construction of the Ryazan Region has rescinded its December 22, 2023, resolution approving amendments to the Semenovskoye Rural Settlement General Plan No. 626-p. The resolution was signed by the head of the department, Roman Shashkin. It is not yet known whether this means there will be no waste processing facility in this area.
