Clean Shores, Safe Forest: Noskov on Volga Islands

Samara Mayor Ivan Noskov together with Ecology Minister Artem Yefimov inspected popular recreation areas — Podzhabny, Golodny, and Rozhdestvensky islands.

The scene was far from resort-like. Inspectors found 22 tourist bases that had been storing waste directly on the shore for years without having signed a single contract with a waste operator. Due to a shortage of containers and a chaotic collection schedule, the picturesque islands risk turning into a dump.

«Our task is to create comfortable conditions for safe recreation for Samara residents,» emphasized Ivan Noskov, promising to help businesses set up centralized waste collection.

However, mountains of plastic are not the only problem. With the arrival of heat, the islands become a powder keg. City Duma Chairman Sergey Ryazanov set a tough condition for owners of recreation bases: install motor pumps or fire reservoirs near the water. This is necessary so that special equipment can fill up with water in seconds and extinguish a fire before it spreads to the forest.

By the end of the week, the regional operator will draw up a strict cleaning schedule, and the garbage truck season will be extended for the entire navigation period — from the spring ice break-up until freeze-up. Entrepreneurs were given a few days to legalize their waste, and new solid municipal waste collection sites will appear where they were most lacking. At the same time, work with tourists in the forests will be intensified to remind them of fire safety rules.

As the head of Samara noted, the city administration will work through all issues that arose during the meeting with business owners and landholders on the islands. Following the establishment of cooperation with the regional operator, a follow-up inspection of the territories will be organized.