Vitaliy Kim, the head of the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration, said that there is a threat that during the heat, dusting of toxic red sludge from the fields of the Mykolaiv Alumina Plant will occur again.
The ecological threat is related to the fact that the plant was nationalized and currently the enterprise does not have proper maintenance and financing, reports NikVesty.
"Due to the transition to state ownership, there is a gap between private and state funding," Kim emphasized.
He said that currently the factory employs about 300 people who guard and maintain the fields. Some of the fields have an automated irrigation system and cause less concern than fields with mechanical and physical treatment.
"I cannot assure you that the sludge will not float. This is an environmental problem. We are struggling with this and the plant is struggling with this, because it used its own funds to pay salaries and take care of the fields," said Kim.
The article emphasized that the MSW is responsible for the largest amount of Class IV waste in the region, namely 82.2%. As of January 1, 2019, 43.5 million tons of red sludge were accumulated in sludge storage facilities in two fields. Every year, its quantity increases by 1.3-1.7 million tons.
It is noted that in 2021 the company planned to build a third storage facility for red sludge. However, despite the lack of comments from the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, the process was blocked.
Earlier, EcoPolitic wrote, that in February 2022, the reclamation of the first sludge field was resumed at the Mykolaiv Alumina Plant (MGZ), which was blocked due to a lawsuit filed by the NGO "Stop Sludge" for moral damages.
As EcoPolitic previously reported, in February 2022, the Mykolaiv Alumina Plant planned to start disposing of 180,000 tons of sludge per year. At the enterprise, for the first time in the world, they learned to produce cement from such waste.
