Construction Company TMK to Build a New Industrial Waste Landfill Near Perwouralsk
The proposed industrial waste dump is all set to tie up with Pervouralskoy Novotrubnyy Zavod (PNTZ), owned by Trubnaya Metallurgicheskaya Kompaniya (TMK). The site is located near Pervouralsk, Revda, and Druzhinino.
The area spanning over 300 hectares is situated between the rivers Bol’shaya and Malaya Cheremsh, near the road connecting Yekaterinburg and Perm'.
In early June, TMK presented the plan for a new waste dump, using an existing similar facility in the Volgograd region as an example.
The company published a concept for the waste dump, promising it to be maximally safe for the environment. Like the Volzhskii Troubnyi Zavod, the facility under Pervouralsk is expected to use a double protective layer technology, which should prevent harmful substances from reaching the water and soil.
According to documents, the waste dump is expected to accept waste of hazard classes III-V: from tar from petroleum products to polluted workwear and construction waste. TMK promises a strict control throughout the entire disposal chain.
However, local residents doubt the safety of the facility, recording an appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin in spring asking him to preserve the integrity of the ecosystem in the Pervouralsk Municipal District. The burial of waste seems to take place only 5 km away from the settlement of Druzhinino.
“It won't be a waste processing plant or factory for processing waste. It will be just a pit where they will start dumping waste. A wooded area is being chosen, next to rivers, with fauna, flora, our settlement being inhabited by us with our farms, animals, and plants,” says the appeal.
Protesters requested the president to find another location for the waste dump.
"The waste from the metal processing industry, intended for placement on the waste dump, has the same degree of danger as ordinary household waste, which is produced daily by every person in the course of their daily life. The main goal of this project is to prevent negative impacts on the environment. Monitoring will be carried out by the laboratory's own forces, as well as specialized companies." - said the chief environmentalist of PNTZ, Yelena Shakirova, during the public hearings, as a result of which the administration of Pervouralsk approved the decision to build the waste dump.
In late May, the Pervouralsk City Court declared the results of the public hearings illegal due to the appeals of local citizens.
In turn, employees of the Department of Forestry of the Ural Federal District (UrFO) filed a lawsuit in the Arbitration Court of Sverdlovsk Region, requesting the stoppage of construction of the waste dump because PNTZ partially occupied the forest fund, said during a press conference in Interfax Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology Denis Mamontov. The court took the side of the plaintiff and temporarily prohibited PNTZ from changing the information about the site in the cadastral and cutting trees. It is expected that the company will be able to resume work only after the project is revised.
"Now, all the cadastral documents will be reviewed, and accordingly, everything will return to the draft state,” - added Mamontov.
- Despite TMK's promises for a safe waste dump, local residents have expressed concerns, submitting an appeal to President Vladimir Putin in spring.
- The planned waste dump near Pervouralsk, Revda, and Druzhinino is envisioned to accept waste of hazard classes III-V, including tar from petroleum products and polluted workwear.
- Protesters have argued that the proposed waste dump is not a processing plant, but just a pit, posing a threat to the surrounding wooded area, rivers, fauna, flora, settlements, farms, animals, and plants.
- In light of public concerns, the Pervouralsk City Court declared the results of the public hearings on the waste dump illegal in late May.
- The Department of Forestry of the Ural Federal District (UrFO) has filed a lawsuit in the Arbitration Court of Sverdlovsk Region, seeking to halt the construction of the waste dump, claiming that PNTZ partially occupied the forest fund.
- Environmentalists advising PNTZ have asserted that the waste from the metal processing industry, intended for the waste dump, is no more dangerous than ordinary household waste and that monitoring will be conducted to minimize environmental impact.
- In response to the legal challenges, Denis Mamontov, Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology, indicated that the cadastral documents for the waste dump site will be reevaluated, and the project may need to be revised before construction can resume.
