In Tomsk, garbage trucks were seized for debt, while the city was drowning in garbage.

The reason for the seizure of three garbage trucks is a 12 million ruble debt that the Tomsk Regional Environmental Company (TREK) failed to pay to the federal budget as compensation for its negative environmental impact, as stipulated by law.

The debt has been hanging over the company, a subcontractor to the Tomsk mayor's office, since 2023. Currently, the garbage trucks are stored at TREK itself, but if the debt isn't paid soon, the equipment will be put up for auction.

"We proposed various solutions to the problem. The company has other assets on its balance sheet, the seizure of which would not interfere with its business operations," the deputy mayor commented on the arrest. Nicholas Glebovich"If garbage trucks are seized, the waste removal situation will worsen, so we're looking for ways to remove the waste."

According to the Deputy Mayor of Tomsk, TREK currently has no money to pay off its debts—the contractor to whom the company works as a subcontractor owes it for waste removal services. Legal proceedings are currently underway.

At this time, Tomsk residents have been regularly complaining in the mayor's comments for several months now Dmitry Mahini and the governor Vladimir Mazura on the rubbish heaps.

"Dirt, rats, piles of uncollected trash. Containers are full," "Everything is piled high with bags," "Trash hasn't been collected for weeks," "They only pick up half the trash, and the bins aren't put back," "Spring will come—everything will melt, and the trash bins will be gone. What a shame! Tomsk used to be so clean and beautiful," Tomsk residents complain, showing photos of their own trash piles.