The Ministry of Agriculture recommended against building a waste processing plant in Sysert. Residents have been fighting the project for a year.

The Ministry of Agriculture's position letter was published by the Uralinformburo channel. It states that the Sverdlovsk Region ranked first in the country for the withdrawal of agricultural land from cultivation in 2022–2023, which violates national food security priorities.

It is for this reason that the ministry recommended clarifying the location of the planned plant, “due to the inadmissibility of withdrawing land from agricultural use.”

Local residents have been protesting the construction of the facility in Sysert for almost a year. As NeMoskva reported, they contacted Artem Zhoga, the Ural Federal District Plenipotentiary Representative, proposing a referendum and demanding an investigation into the governor's actions. Dozens of activists held pickets against the landfill, insisting on the creation of an eco-cluster on the site, but their proposal failed to gain support. Perhaps, with the Ministry of Agriculture's recommendation in mind, the situation will change.

A photo from "NeMoskva" at a picket in Sysert in December 2024.