Soil for concern: who sells contaminated soil to Russians
At the end of January, it became known that in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast hazardous soil from a former Soviet enterprise was transferred to private companies instead of being utilized. A criminal case was opened and arrests were made, but the soil contaminated with petroleum products and carcinogenic compounds has already found its way to vegetable gardens and construction sites. The use of contaminated soil in household work was reported in the Ryazan region. Details in the material "Izvestia".
What is the essence of the criminal case
In late January, the Nizhny Novgorod Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation reported that a case under Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code (fraud committed by a person using his official position, by a group of persons by prior conspiracy, on a particularly large scale) was initiated against the general director of the joint-stock company for the treatment and disposal of hazardous waste, as well as three other managers of private companies.
According to the investigation, from 2023 to 2024, during the construction of the production and technological complex, the director of the subcontracting organization instructed the removal and transfer of hazardous soil from the construction site to private individuals. In this case, false information about the costs of removal was entered in the acts. The defendant, Irina Marchenko, the already detained Director General of Rosatom Environmental Integrator JSC, instructed her subordinates to sign the acts and transfer 36 million rubles to the group members. The second defendant in the case is Dmitry Chugrin, a deputy of the Bor Council of Deputies. We are talking about 15.7 thousand cubic meters of contaminated soil.
Where the contaminated soil disappeared to
Dmitry Levashov, an ecologist from Nizhny Novgorod, explained that the soil was removed from the site where kerosene used to be produced. This territory was given for the construction of a large ecotechnopark, and the hazardous soil was taken away to be sent to a certified landfill, but the subcontractor (according to Izvestia, it is the company Magistralinvest, whose founder is Dmitry Chugrin) transferred the contaminated soil not to the landfill, but to private firms that accepted the soil through classifieds services.
One of them is OOO "Intekhstroyservis - 52". The company's general director, Sergei Veselov, confirmed to Izvestia that he had received several cars of contaminated soil from Dmitry Chugrin. About 800 cubic meters fell on the site of this organization.
- Dmitry Chugrin blatantly misled us by offering us surplus soil from a new construction site, which he was clearing at one of the production facilities in the industrial zone of Dzerzhinsk," the Izvestia interlocutor said. - The soil has not been moved anywhere from our industrial site. No one informed us that the soil was contaminated and poisonous, and we didn't know it. We don't know who else Chugrin took the soil to.
Sergey Veselov emphasized that the company is ready to provide all possible assistance to the investigation of the incident.
- The soil is lying on our site. We have made a backfill for the subsequent construction - we filled up the low-lying area. But now we will wait for the investigating authorities, call ecologists, and conduct an expert examination. If it is confirmed that the soil is poisonous, we will definitely dispose of it," he said.
Dmitry Levashov emphasizes that law enforcement agencies will have to figure out where all the remaining soil ended up. He suggests that the contaminated soil could have spread to garden associations, small firms, etc.
- I get screenshots from HOAs, from management companies: "Here we had landscaping, and to us brought some obscure color soil, where is it from?" - says Dmitry Levashov.
Yelena Sharoykina, Chairman of the Commission on Ecology and Sustainable Development of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, emphasized that the use of contaminated soil in economic activities is unacceptable, even for leveling sites.
Mark Chinenkov, Head of the Department of Rosprirodnadzor for Nizhny Novgorod Region and the Republic of Mordovia, told Izvestia that so far no complaints or appeals to the agency about the sale of contaminated soil have been registered.
- Based on the information received, inspectors of the department are conducting a preliminary verification of the facts. Based on the results of this work, a decision will be made on further actions of the department within the framework of available powers," he said.
"Izvestia" sent inquiries to the government of Nizhny Novgorod region and LLC TD "Karbokhim", but at the time of publication of the material the answers were not received.
Soil with sleepers
Meanwhile, a similar situation is taking place in the Ryazan Region. At the end of January, the local media reported about the movement of soil contaminated with creatine from the territory of the former sleeper factory, where the company "Green Garden" is building a residential complex. Public activists checked the information and found soil with sleepers and the smell of creosote in the floodplain of the Pletenka River in Ryazan and in the town of Mikhailov near the Pokrovsky Nunnery. Representatives of the developer stated that the soil is removed by specialized companies to a landfill in the Moscow region and promised to conduct an official check on these reports.
"Izvestia" sent requests to the company "Green Garden" and the government of the Ryazan region, but at the time of publication of the material no answers had been received.
Rosprirodnadzor informed Izvestia that an on-site inspection is scheduled for February 12, involving the branch of the Center for Laboratory Analysis and Technical Measurements (CLATI) for the Central Federal District in the Ryazan region.
How often contaminated soil gets into circulation
Dmitry Levashov says that from time to time such stories happen in different regions. He recalls a situation about 10 years ago in Dzerzhinsk, where one of the gardeners bought a plot of land and decided to make a road on his own, paving it with green-colored bricks. It turned out that it was waste from a chemical company, containing many pollutants, including lead. To the right and left of the road were other people's plots, on which all these substances started to flow in the spring.
-Now we are investigating another episode related to a former pesticide production facility in Dzerzhinsk, " the ecologist continues. - The waste was supposed to be disposed of literally across the street, at a site 300 meters away from the plant. But they were not disposed of there. We will conduct an inspection with the help of supervisory authorities.
Elena Sharoikina notes that this problem is relevant for most industrial towns where Soviet-era enterprises have closed down.
- Quite often on their territories are found areas with pollution exceeding the current standards," she told Izvestia. - And this is only the tip of the iceberg of a larger problem. We are talking about the utilization of industrial waste. There are still very few industrial waste recycling facilities in the country, and even fewer facilities for their safe disposal.
Vladislav Zhukov, executive director of the National Center for Ecological and Epidemiological Safety, is sure that such incidents are rare. After all, this is a criminal offense, and law enforcement officials have the ability to track the movement of contaminated soils, he believes.
-All objects of accumulated environmental damage are registered, undergo procedures of registration, determination of waste hazard class and are under special attention of the state supervision in the sphere of nature management, " he told Izvestia. - A large amount of soil illegally is quite difficult to reverse, so the scheme cannot be widespread.
How to solve the problem
Sergei Malikov, a member of the Moscow City Duma Committee on Property Relations, Nature Management and Ecology, notes that in the Moscow region, the problem with the movement of contaminated soil is helped by the Safe Region camera system, which uses artificial intelligence to record violators.
- The cameras have increased the effectiveness of the fight against illegal dumping in the Moscow region. They record vehicles, read license plates," he told Izvestia. - But for the Central Federal District as a whole the problem is acute - disposal of soil costs up to 5,000 rubles per cubic meter. In addition, we are faced with a colossal shortage of licensed landfills.
Dmitry Levashov also emphasizes that the Moscow Region is the only region that has so far created a special database to control the market of construction waste, dismantling and demolition waste. Thanks to a system of video surveillance cameras, it is possible to track any truck that has left Mytishchi, Sergiev Posad, Solnechnogorsk, Moscow itself - and trace its route.
- If the truck does not end up at the landfill in the direction it was traveling, the owner and driver of the vehicle have to pay the price. The sums are already quite serious, and there are already a lot of fines," says Dmitry Levashov. - So this is one of the real solutions. But the country is big, not every region can afford it.
Elena Sharoykina noted that steps to solve the problem are also being taken within the framework of the "Closed Cycle Economy" concept. In addition, she believes that it is necessary to reconsider "the approach to limiting control and supervisory activities.
-It would be good to single out some key objects, for example, defense industry enterprises, for which such restrictions can be retained, and in all other industries to return to the "dokovidnadzor" format of Rosprirodnadzor's work, so that the movement of industrial waste (including contaminated soil) is properly controlled, - said the head of the OPRF Commission on Ecology.
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