Kazan schoolchildren were told how sorting garbage saves hedgehogs, forests, and ponds

Students of eco-classes were showed how the waste treatment process happens.

(KZN.RU, September 14, Ksenia Shvetsova). Today the press tour was organized for students of the 9th grade of the Kazan school №54. The children were told about the reasons for sorting garbage. They saw how the garbage truck takes the sorted waste and then visited the waste sorting station.

A study tour began at one of the yards of the Aviastroitelny district, where a project to introduce a separate collection of municipal waste started on August 1. The children saw how the garbage truck took the sorted waste. “We want you to see for yourself how it all happens, to explain why it is important to sort the waste so that you can then tell your parents and siblings”, Iskander Giniyatullin, the deputy head of the Executive Committee, addressed the schoolchildren. They were students of the ecological class and in many theoretical issues, they were already sufficiently savvy, as they study ecology at additional classes.

The company OOO “PZKhKh” is responsible for the garbage collection. Evgeny Tuz, the head of the company, notes the first positive results already from the project implementation. “Waste that goes to sorting is drier and are subjected to deeper sorting at the waste processing station”.

The entire fleet of garbage trucks in Kazan is new, modern machines are equipped with powerful hydraulic presses. That's why it is important to separate dry garbage from wet so that it does not get caught in the press in the car.

After, the children went to the waste sorting station to see what happens to garbage after that. On the road, I. Giniyatullin told them about the importance of sorting garbage, citing specific examples. Thus, he recalled that every year in Kazan about 500 thousand tons of waste are generated, which are exported from the city to landfills. Each Kazan citizens makes 420 kilograms of waste for a year. In order to safely bury these wastes in compliance with environmental norms and regulations, Kazan will need an area of about 900 hectares in 10 years; along with security zones, this is 9 square kilometers. “To reduce this number, we started work on waste separation together with you”, said I. Giniyatullin. Last year, 5000 tons of secondary resources were sent for processing, of which 1200 tons of plastic bottles. “What is 1200 tons? This volume can fill 3 standard swimming pools. If these bottles that were sent for processing would remain in Kazan and fall into nature, then this number of bottles could evenly cover the surface of the Nizhniy Kaban Lake, the Bulak, and “Chernoe Ozero” canals in the center of the city. But we avoided this”.

In addition, 2800 tons of waste paper was collected and sent for processing. From this waste paper, a new one will be made in the factories and thus approximately 47 thousand trees or 15 Kazan parks will be preserved from cutting down. Also, eco-active citizens collected and sent to recycle 300 tons of glass containers.

He also told the schoolchildren that the campaign “Save the Hedgehog” for collecting batteries has brought significant results. The decay products of just one battery can poison the earth in an area of 20 square meters, on which there lives a hedgehog, two moles, and about a thousand earthworms. Batteries handed over for processing saved 250 thousand hedgehogs, half a million moles, and 250 million earthworms. “Let's imagine that we directed not 1% for recycling, but at least 10%. Then not 15 parks could be saved, but 150 ones, not 50 thousand trees, but half a million, which will clean the air for us”, said I. Giniyatullin.

The waste sorting station at Vasylchenko Street in Kazan was established in 2008. At that time it was recognized as the most modern and technologically equipped in the country, today it is also among the foremost.

Evgeny Tuz told the children about how sorting of waste happens. So, first the garbage is delivered by special containers for primary selection, then the waste is being sorted for a small fraction of waste. After that, the garbage is conveyed by the conveyor for sorting, there the main selection of useful fractions happens manually. In the end, it is pressed and then goes on sale to paper mills and factories that process polyethylene. Non-recyclable fractions are pressed and transported to landfills. Also, in the process of sorting, metal is automatically selected.

In general, the quality of garbage has improved significantly since the start of the project. Many residents of the Aviastroitelny district joined the sorting. A supplier of hazardous waste containers has been found. In total, 83 containers will be installed on the streets of the city. “When sorting garbage, the most important task is to extract dangerous fractions. This is done in the first place, and only then the useful one can be sent for processing”, explained I. Giniyatullin. In January next year, according to the current legislation, a regional operator will begin to work, whose responsibility will be the introduction of a separate collection throughout the city.

At the end of the tour, the children were presented with reusable mugs. They can use them, for example, instead of disposable plastic cups when buying coffee.