Volunteers collected more than 20 tons of waste in nature reserves and national parks in six regions of Russia

About 23 tons of waste were collected by participants in the all-Russian event “Opening the Country” in specially protected natural areas of federal significance in six regions of the country. The Russian Ministry of Natural Resources reported this on its website.

“The first event of the action was a cleanup day in the Moscow region - 107 volunteers collected 720 kilograms of waste on the territory of the Losiny Ostrov National Park, painted animal enclosures and listened to lectures on the behavior of moose,” the message says.

The second cleanup took place in the Chelyabinsk region: 115 volunteers went to the Taganay National Park to help its employees clean up tourist sites.

“Volunteers cleaned the shore of the reservoir, covering five tourist routes at once. In addition, spontaneous landfills on the border of the national park were eliminated - more than 50 bags of waste were collected near gardening associations. Among the finds were plastic and glass containers, shoes, clothes and even a sink and a TV,” the Ministry of Natural Resources said.

More than a hundred volunteers from the Lipetsk and Voronezh regions collected an entire KamAZ truck of waste on the territory of the Voronezh Nature Reserve. Participants of the action also helped the reserve staff in mowing lawns, cleaning paths and cleaning trails.

Over a hundred volunteers from Tatarstan cleaned up the Volzhsko-Kama Nature Reserve. They paid special attention to the improvement of the local arboretum, removal of dead wood, weeding and clearing of plantings.

“The final cleanup days of the action took place in the Vologda region and in the Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria. In the Russian North National Park, volunteers were able to collect more than 20 tons of construction waste and helped the employees of the protected area in landscaping the territory, and the great contribution of the volunteers was noted by the honored guests of the event,” - the message says.

Another final cleanup event was held in the Elbrus region national park. More than a hundred volunteers took part in the cleanup at the foot of the highest mountain peak in Russia and Europe. In just a few hours, they collected about 150 kilograms of waste - mostly plastic and household waste.

“Further development of the “Opening the Country” project will be aimed, among other things, at creating a unified system of interaction between volunteers and protected area workers,” the Ministry of Natural Resources said.