Why does the government not clean up garbage in forests?
The government does not allocate money for cleaning up the garbage scattered in the forests, because this is a federal territory and local administrations do not have the ability and rights to budget for cleaning it. We intend to appeal to the newly elected deputies of the State Duma from Yakutia to try to work out and resolve this issue. Due to the presence of the problem, in September of last year, Sinet Spark launched a large-scale eco-project No Garbage in Yakutsk.
Fact #1: in 2021, within the framework of the Garbage.No program 6386 cubic meters of garbage were taken out of the forests near Yakutsk
which amounts to 390 trucks: 6213 cubes of garbage were removed by a professional contractor with payment from the Sinet Spark Foundation, 173 cubes by volunteer citizens at two subbotniks. A total of 120 landfills have been liquidated — the largest were on the Vilyuysky, Namtsyrsky, Magansky tracts, and the Khatyng-Yuryakh hill. Now there are still 141 points on the map — many users mark points inside the city, but No Garbage is aimed only at abandoned forests. Thus, most of the landfills in the forests have been eliminated. You can read about how the subbotniks were held here.
One of the landfills on Khatyng-Yuryakh. Photo before.
One of the landfills on Khatyng-Yuryakh. Photo after.
Fact # 2: the survey showed that vacationers litter in the forest
The results of an anonymous survey in which 1,640 readers of Ykt.Ru took part have shown that vacationers litter in the forests. People admitted that they did not want to dirty their cars. 47% of respondents indicated the absence of bins as the reason for the appearance of garbage in the forest. Another reason listed was "forgot to take trash bags." Dear citizens, do not forget to take garbage bags when going on picnics! The third most popular reason is "I left garbage at an unauthorized landfill because there was already a lot of garbage." This can be explained by the broken windows theory: "Consider a building with a few broken windows. If the windows are not repaired, the tendency is for vandals to break a few more windows. Eventually, they may even break into the building, and if it is unoccupied, perhaps become squatters or light fires inside. Or consider a pavement. Some litter accumulates. Soon, more litter accumulates. Eventually, people even start leaving bags of refuse from take-out restaurants there or even break into cars."
One of the landfills on Khatyng-Yuryakh. Photo before.
One of the landfills on Khatyng-Yuryakh. Photo after.
Fact #3: the average age of violators is between 26 and 35
More often, young people aged 26 to 35 leave garbage in nature, which is 47% of respondents. In second place are respondents aged 36 to 45.
One of the landfills on Namtsyr. Photo before.
One of the landfills on Namtsyr. Photo after.
Fact #4: landfills appeared in the 90s
Judging by the packages and labels, most garbage in Yakutsk dates back to the 90s and up to the early 2000s. Sinet Spark employees set up three camera traps, but unauthorized garbage collection was recorded only once. But it is still a fact that people are littering much less often now. At the same time, several companies were noticed in local scandals, whose affiliation to garbage was calculated from documents, discount cards, items with company symbols, and so on. Sinet Spark conducts its own investigations, and an article about what happened to the violators can be read here.
One of the landfills on Namtsyr. Photo before.
One of the landfills on Namtsyr. Photo after.
Fact #5: People believe that the solution to the landfill problem is the installation of garbage bins. But it is not that easy
Most readers of Ykt.Ru believe that garbage bins should be installed in specially designated places, but in this case there must be a contractor organization that will monitor the cleanliness of the tanks. The or, accordingly, receive payment for their services. Recall that funding for the cleaning of landfills in forests that are on the federal balance sheet is not allocated. For example, containers near roads are served by organizations on whose balance these roads are located. There is no such thing in the forest. Exception: if this is a recreation center, that is, there is a responsible person.
One of the landfills on Khatyng-Yuryakh. Photo before.
One of the landfills on Khatyng-Yuryakh. Photo after.
Fact #6: plastic can take up to 200 years to decompose
It is a proven fact that plastic decomposes for a long time, it is one of the most harmful materials for nature. If you like to eat from disposable tableware, think before doing it! During decomposition, plastic releases toxic substances that negatively affect nature and human health. A reasonable approach is separate garbage collection. In Yakutsk, waste sorting is only beginning to be put into practice, in many yards and buildings there are multi-colored containers with instructions on what waste goes in which bin. The project initiators told their story here.
One of the landfills on Khatyng-Yuryakh. Photo before.
One of the landfills on Khatyng-Yuryakh. Photo after.
Fact #7: burning grass with a glass bottle experiment failed
Can a piece of glass lead to a forest fire? Theoretically, it is possible if summer is very hot and the rays of the sun will mercilessly scorch the earth. The No Garbage project employees tried to set fire to the grass (in compliance with all fire safety rules) with a piece of glass. There was clear instruction on what to do in case of a fire. But either solar activity was low, or for another reason, there was no fire.
One of the landfills on Khatyng-Yuryakh. Photo before.
One of the landfills on Khatyng-Yuryakh. Photo after.
Fact #8: the average age of a volunteer in Yakutia is 30 years
According to the organizers, most of the volunteers are young people aged 25 to 35, the average age is 30. Of the 184 registered volunteers in Yakutsk, the majority are women - 141. It is understandable, given the fact that women are more prudent and neat. But the men have succeeded in visualizing the problem more technically by making the video to draw attention to the environmental disaster. See more details here. The winners received a DJI Mavic AIR 2 quadcopter and a GoPro 9 action camera. We thank all the volunteers and participants of the contest!
One of the landfills on Khatyng-Yuryakh. Photo before.
One of the landfills on Khatyng-Yuryakh. Photo after.
Fact #9: people participating in volunteer activities make the world a better place and become better themselves!
Once again, we express our gratitude to all concerned residents and guests of our beloved city for dedicating their day off to the project No Garbage and clearing our beautiful forests of garbage that had been lying and rotting for years, poisoning everything around. The unique Yakut nature surely does not deserve such an attitude!
This year, the Sinet Spark project fund commissioned the contractor organization "Vtorproekt" for the implementation of the project No Garbage. It collected garbage in the forest every day, and we would like to thank the team of this wonderful company on behalf of all citizens. The district administration of Yakutsk allocated coupons for the city landfill for 9,000 cubic meters - special thanks for the assistance in the implementation of the project! The project No Garbage interacts with the Yakut State Environmental Supervision Committee. In particular, the committee is preparing a request for the allocation of a separate budget for the removal of garbage from the forests of Yakutia at the federal level.
This concludes the removal of unauthorized landfills by the forces of Sinet Spark. At the same time, we intend to continue to hold volunteer subbotniks and maintain an interactive map Svalki.Ykt.Ru. We will also continue to cover the topic of separate garbage collection and will continue the investigation to identify unscrupulous garbage removal contractors. Let's protect our forests and prevent the appearance of unauthorized landfills together!