On July 10, police departments in Naro-Fominsk and Selyatyn near Moscow released almost simultaneously three detained environmental activists protesting against the construction of a waste incineration plant. Two of them had been taken to the police department at the same time one and a half hours earlier, allegedly on suspicion of theft. The activists were going to hold a picket, and the poster was supposed to be held not by a person, but by a toy.

The police officers initially knew the names of the detainees: they are eco-activist Tatyana Pavlova and blogger and journalist Denis Styazhkin. According to him words, in the train on which he was traveling to the Moscow region from the capital, law enforcement officers selectively checked the documents of young people. Another environmental activist, Yelena Grishina, was detained after a thorough search of her car found nothing illegal. In Naro-Fominsk, on that day, they planned to hold an action-performance against the construction of a waste incineration plant.

“We periodically hold protests, single pickets, which are allowed by law,” Radio Liberty told Tatiana Pavlova. - But any exit to the street in Naro-Fominsk turns into detention. Therefore, we wanted to make such an action - not even a picket of people, but a picket of one toy. We wanted to plant a soft, plush toy and give it an anti-ISZ poster. And we decided not to advertise this action, because we understood that as soon as we arrived there, they would immediately take us away. I assume that we are being tapped: we talked about the action on the VKontakte network, in personal correspondence, and discussed some minor details on the phone. When I drove up to the Selyatino station, started to climb the railway platform, four policemen approached me, who knew who I was, because they immediately asked: "Citizen Pavlova?" I was told that I should go to the police station: I allegedly look like the woman who committed theft here, and therefore they must make sure, establish my identity. Such a story happened to Lena Grishina. She was in a car, pulled up to the local shopping center, not even close to the station where we were supposed to meet. She was stopped by a traffic police officer, who began to check the documents, after which he called somewhere. The policemen arrived with witnesses, began to search the car, then they detained Elena, photographed her with a sign in the police station - they take such photos when people are arrested. Then she was intimidated, told that she could be arrested for extremism. They took away some leaflets from the actions that were held earlier and were absolutely legal and agreed. And in general, they brought her to such a state that she became ill, that is, then they brought her pills, soldered her. She is an ordinary resident, she is new to environmental activism. For example, I had an arrest in 2013, I was arrested for five days, and I went through a lot of detentions, so this was not a surprise for me, I’m already used to the fact that we have such chaos, even if you're just protecting your own home.

All three were released without protocols or any claims. Tatyana Pavlova wrote a complaint against the police, accusing them of illegal detention. The protest action was cancelled.

"This is genocide"

Four waste incineration plants are planned to be built in the Moscow region - in the Noginsk, Solnechnogorsk, Voskresensky and Naro-Fominsk districts. The latter, according to the plan, will receive up to 700 thousand tons of waste per year. The protests of local residents began in October last year, when citizens did not support the initiative of the authorities at public hearings. Since that moment, pickets of activists and environmentalists, as well as mass rallies, have been regularly held in the city.

It doesn't stink there yet, so many people don't understand what they can expect.

Why are residents against it? explains Tatyana Pavlova. - The fact is that everything cannot be burned in a row, there should be separate collection of waste, after burning one third of toxic ash remains, which also needs to be put somewhere. We are convinced that the plant is safe, and for this, our activists were invited to Switzerland to see, evaluate how this is happening in Europe, supposedly we will have such a plant. We sent a specialist there who understands numbers, and instead of looking at beautiful pictures, he looked at the technical side of that plant, which is located in Switzerland, and when we had public hearings on WHO (this is an environmental impact assessment) , he also studied all the materials, and we realized that they were going to build a completely different plant near Naro-Fominsk. There was a state examination, we, as environmental activists, have the right to conduct our own public examination, and we were not given documents for it. And we conclude that the plant is actually dangerous, they hide a lot from us. Why is this a personal question for me: my house falls into the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthis incinerator, so I have little choice - either move or try to fight. Unfortunately, the authorities, instead of having a normal dialogue with the residents, splurge, deceive, and people have an absolute distrust of what is happening. And all this results in such conflicts.

- How massive are the protests of local residents?

- There is an initiative group, the majority are local residents, whose houses are located near the plant. The plant should have a sanitary protection zone - one kilometer, and residential buildings fall into the sanitary protection zone, and therefore, of course, most people are from where they are going to build this incineration plant. The protests in Naro-Fominsk are not so massive, because, unlike, for example, Volokolamsk, it does not stink there yet, so many people do not understand what they can expect. Because, for example, in Balashikha and its environs, where MSZ-4 is currently operating, you can feel all this polluted air, and people suffer there. And in Naro-Fominsk they will also face this, but as long as people do not understand this, they are still breathing clean air. In December, more than 500 people came to the rally, which is quite a lot for Naro-Fominsk.

- The problem with garbage in the suburbs is quite painful. But what are the alternatives to landfills and incineration?

They only want to build factories and get money from the fact that garbage will come in. They will not live near this plant

- Most of the garbage should be recycled, in fact, as it happens in Europe. In many countries, up to 90 percent of waste is recycled rather than incinerated; only the so-called tailings are burned there, that is, what cannot be recycled. We, on the contrary, recycle five percent. I am now trying to introduce separate waste collection myself in the village where I live, where I was detained, and I am in contact with processing enterprises, they are all underloaded, everyone is experiencing problems. This industry is absolutely not developed in our country, and it is not supported in any way. Now the main task of the authorities should be to support the recycling industry, to introduce separate waste collection, which is what activists are doing now. And only then, when there are some leftovers, you can already make a decision - either bury them, and there will be nothing to stink there, or burn these leftovers. We do not introduce recycling, it is simply proposed to burn everything. At the same time, one third of the toxic ash remains from burning, which also needs to be buried somewhere, that is, we will have the same problems with landfills. What is proposed now will not solve the problem. Activists and many experts agree that this is not a solution to the problem.

“Then why are the authorities pushing incinerators so hard as a solution?”

- Because it is cost-effective, the authorities especially do not want to bother, they just want to build factories and get money from the fact that garbage will come in. Whether that which cannot be burned will be burned there, they do not care, because they will not live next to this plant. In order to support the recycling industry, to introduce separate waste collection, long-term investments are needed, it is necessary to invest more and make a profit later, but they want quick money. There are people in power now who absolutely do not think 10, 15, 20, 50 years ahead, they only think how to grab it faster, make money. And what people will breathe, what will remain in the country, what lands will be, what soil will be, what air will be, they absolutely do not care. They do not plan to live here, especially next to the factories. Therefore, these are our problems.

- Do you somehow coordinate actions with other opponents of waste incinerators in the Moscow region? Or with other organizations that oppose such a waste management strategy?

- We talked with Dmitry Trunin - this is the chairman of the People's Chamber of the Moscow Region - and he says that activists from Tatarstan will soon come to us in the Moscow region. A waste incineration plant is also being built in Kazan, and we will hold actions together. Periodically, we hold conferences that bring together various environmental initiative groups from all over the Moscow region and Moscow. Of course, we also cooperate with Greenpeace. We are trying to join forces in order to show that what is being implemented now is genocide, sums up eco-activist Tatyana Pavlova.

World Cup Legacy

During the World Cup, rallies and pickets are prohibited in the host cities without the consent of the authorities. This is one of the reasons why the protests of residents against the MSZ are still scattered and local: it is almost impossible to obtain permission for a single rally in Moscow. But separate waste collection was introduced within a radius of two kilometers around 12 stadiums hosting the World Cup, as well as in 11 FIFA fan zones. The Federation supports the fight for the preservation of the environment, although the initiative for separate collection came from the national organizing committee: according to the organizers, after each match, 6 to 10 tons of garbage are generated in the stadiums.

After the match with Poland at Moscow's Spartak Stadium on June 19, Senegalese fans cleaned up the arena, picking up trash after themselves and the opponent's fans. The Japanese fans did the same, cleaning up after themselves the garbage after the match with Columbia in Saransk.

By the way, Saransk is one of the few Russian cities where it has been possible to introduce separate collection and recycling of waste: up to 80% of city residents can use recyclable containers. For the World Cup, urns for separate collection appeared in the center of Nizhny Novgorod, which also hosts the FIFA tournament. True, on the green and yellow trash cans it is not specified in which container to throw out which type of garbage, which is why the initiative is working so-so so far. Whether these containers will be preserved after the end of the World Cup is unknown.

In some Moscow courtyards, you can also find bins for separate waste collection, but only four percent of the total waste is sent for recycling. The average resident of Moscow and the Moscow region produces twice as much waste than any other Russian. 2000 "KAMAZ" garbage Moscow daily sends outside the Moscow Ring Road.

The organizers of the rally made a special statement that the rally in Naro-Fominsk has nothing to do with the activities of political parties, is not connected with the upcoming presidential elections and is not funded by the "garbage mafia", which allegedly organizes protests of the population. It is precisely the incompetent and illegal actions of the authorities and the lobbyists associated with them for the construction of waste incineration and waste processing plants that, upon closer examination, turned out to be ordinary waste heat and power plants, “organize” the protests of the population. Here are a few examples of such recent actions:

- the closure of the Mosekomonitoring website on September 11, 2017, which was allegedly closed for technical reasons for three days. Instead of objective data on several, albeit not the most important, parameters, Muscovites and residents of the Moscow region began to receive daily replies that the situation with air pollution was within the normal range;

- Launching a temporary "experimental" torch at the Kuchino landfill on December 3 for uncontrolled burning of landfill gas of unknown composition. The nearby areas were enveloped in poisonous smog, consisting of incompletely oxidized combustion products. According to experts, such burning next to residential areas is categorically unacceptable and should be recognized as a criminal offense by any normal court. What was the need for an "experimental torch before the completion of the installation of the German stationary installation", which should be completed on December 25? The only visible motive for launching a temporary torch is the meeting of the President of the Russian Federation with the Governor of the Moscow Region Andrei Vorobyov, which took place two days later, on December 5, at which the latter reported on the successful reclamation of the Kuchino landfill in accordance with the schedule of the approved road map;

— Recorded burning of unsorted waste at MSZ-4 in the city of Moscow, which automatically implies contamination of the surrounding areas of Moscow and the Moscow Region with especially dangerous and persistent poisonous substances;

— start of construction work at the WIP site near Voskresensk the day after the public hearings, in which all residents unanimously voted against the construction of the WIP;

- ignoring the results of the meeting of the extended council of Rosprirodnadzor on July 20, 2017, at which representatives of Rostec could not give a single answer to the questions of invited experts.

The result of such actions is obvious - a total loss of public confidence in the authorities, no matter what they now say or promise.

The priority project "Clean Country" is the main failure of the Year of Ecology. Responsible executors of the project did not cope with the really very difficult task of developing a strategy for recycling waste and eliminating the accumulated damage. This is not surprising if 135 unrelated strategies have been simultaneously developed and “operated” in Russia, and endless talk about the implementation of the Law on State Planning remains just talk.

The rally in Naro-Fominsk was attended by representatives of those territories where the first incinerators of the project should be operational by 2023. Despite the cold weather, more than 400 people took part in the voting on the resolution of the rally, which lasted three hours, and unanimously voted against the construction of an incinerator in the Moscow region.

Residents of six districts near Moscow: Voskresensky, Kolomna, Stupinsky, Ramensky, Serpukhov and Chekhov took part in a rally on May 13 against plans to build a waste incineration plant in the village of Stepanshchino, the rural settlement of Fedenskoye, Voskresensky district.

This is one of the four plants planned to be built in the Moscow region under the Clean Country federal project.

Initially, they wanted to build a plant in Voskresensk itself, arguing that the MSZ (incineration plant) is environmentally friendly, and people have nothing to fear. And they cited Vienna, Paris, Tokyo as an example, where waste incineration plants are located in cities and do not interfere with anyone.

However, the officials did not take into account that the Russian reality, where any project is half plundered, and everything is made from the rest somehow, does not suit the residents.

Yes, and waste incineration has long been considered an outdated method all over the world, where they prefer to sort and process solid waste.

Activist Aleksey Kholkin from Voskresensk has repeatedly held mass rallies in his village, and these actions have paid off, but in a very strange way.

The construction of the WIP in Voskresensk was banned, the project was moved 30 kilometers from the original plan to the village of Svistyagino in the Voskresensky district.

True, the hope that such a Solomon decision would suit the Voskresensky activists did not materialize, since civil environmentalists, including Aleksey Kholkin, are confident that the construction of the MSZ will lead to a significant deterioration in the environmental situation in the region and will directly affect four districts: Voskresensky, Kolomensky, Stupinsky, Ramensky.

Therefore, on a sunny day, a rally and picketing took place in front of the Fedenskoye village administration building in the village of Stepanshchino.

Since there is no square in front of the administration building as such, the three hundred people who gathered for the rally could hardly fit on a small patch of land, which made the rally even hotter.

It so happened that it was I who became the organizer of the rallies in Voskresensk, - said Alexei Kholkin. - Yes, the plans were indeed changed, and the plant was removed from Voskresensk, moved to you, the residents of Stepanshchino and Svistyagino. However, I do not consider this a victory for the inhabitants of Voskresensk, but rather a delayed death of the entire region.

The residents who spoke echoed him.

My children are growing up here, why, because of the illiteracy of officials who have brought the region to the brink of an ecological catastrophe, should we put the lives of our children at risk? one of the residents said emotionally.

Almost every speaker said that, in principle, he did not want to see a waste incineration plant near his home and generally did not believe the assurances of officials about the safety of this enterprise. And everyone has a reason to say so - on the hands of official replies.

And one more important point - the village deputies have already applied to the prosecutor's office in order to investigate how the governor of the Moscow region Andrey Vorobyov illegally, according to the rural people's deputies, transferred the land plot of 40 hectares, where the construction of the WIP is planned, to industrial use?

It seems that the conversion of agricultural land and forestry land to industrial use is becoming a trend.

And all this happens in the year of ecology…

The transfer of lands and the appeal of rural deputies directly brings us back to the reform of local self-government, forcibly implanted by the governor.

It was she who made it possible to transfer the development of general plans and land plots, the transfer of agricultural land, as well as the abolition of direct elections and the creation of urban districts to the jurisdiction of the region.

When the reform was just being planted, regional deputies rushed to each district to talk about the advantages of urban districts. But at the protest rallies, people did not see them. But the village deputies were on it, all as one.

Here it is the availability of the municipal level of government. This is what the residents are deprived of. What gives rise to a logical question, and whether the prevailing ecocide everywhere will turn into an outright genocide of the population? With indifferently gazing district deputies and heads appointed from Krasnogorsk?

At the end of the rally, the residents dressed in chemical protection suits and lined up with posters along the highway, and cars passing by honked at them, expressing support!

“It is impossible to precisely determine the location of factories without consulting with people who live in the surrounding areas. There are 1,500 successful waste incineration plants operating in the world, some of which are located in the centers of world capitals - London, Paris, Berlin,” Vladimir Vladimirovich noted.

In addition, the President mentioned the importance of considering other modern methods of waste management. “If there is another, besides incineration, method that is more environmentally friendly and promising, we must use it,” Vladimir Putin added.

One of the participants of the meeting stated the need to postpone the construction of waste incinerators until the population begins to sort waste. Putin replied that this issue needed “efforts from the federal level” and said that at the suggestion of the population after the “Direct Line” he took up this important issue.

As the BIZBI portal reported earlier, from 2019, the authorities of the Moscow region will begin to commission four waste incineration plants as part of the Clean Country federal project in Naro-Fominsk, Solnechnogorsk, Noginsk and Voskresensk.

Most residents are categorically against the plant. All those who are not indifferent repeatedly meet at pickets, rallies and meetings. And last week, activists of the Naro-Fominsk district visited. Until today, all the comments and suggestions of residents on the construction of the MSZ in the village of Mogutovo were accepted by the Urban Development Committee.

“As global experience suggests, the service life of waste incineration plants is 15 years. Justification for the construction of waste incineration, short-lived plants officials do not give and can not give. On the face of INEFFICIENT SPENDING of budgetary funds. The construction of incineration plants for the direct combustion of the entire mass of MSW generated is unacceptable from any point of view. In addition, the allocation of land for a waste incineration plant and the construction of a large-capacity plant will entail, during the operation of the plant, a huge burden on the atmosphere of the territories adjacent to the plant: by reducing the oxygen content in the air from 21% to 8% in flue gases due to release into the environment CO2 environment. The new perinatal center in Naro-Fominsk is located 10 kilometers from the planned incineration plant. The child's body at the initial stage of development is most sensitive to the influence of toxins. Their impact on the fetus and infant in the first months of life can subsequently lead to serious disorders, including the development of cancer. Studies have shown that the incidence of cancer is more dependent on the proximity of the child to the IHC in the first months of his life than later in life. In children born within 10 km of the incinerator, the probability of death from cancer increased by 2 times in relation to the average level. And the last thing: it was from this place near the villages of Afanasovka, Savelovka and Mogutovo that the turning point in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 began, will they really make a trash can among the trenches overgrown with grass and bushes of this historically valuable territory? - ask the authors of one of the remarks.

It remains to be hoped that the head of state will not leave the problem of waste incineration plants unattended and will not allow their construction without taking into account the opinions of the citizens of the Russian Federation.

Anna Nikiforova