Krasny Bor (hazardous waste landfill)

Krasny Bor ( Russian Красный бор ) is the name of the largest hazardous waste dump in northwestern Russia , which is the only collection point for hazardous waste for the city of Saint Petersburg . It is located 30 km from St. Petersburg, 2 km from the Krasny Bor settlement and 5 km from the city of Kolpino , in the Leningrad Oblast . More than one and a half million tons of toxic waste are stored in the landfill, and the number is rising. The landfill has almost exhausted the reserved area of 73 hectares and thus poses an ecological threat to the area.

There are powerful formations of high-density clay from the Cambrian era near the town of Kolpino . For this reason, Krasny Bor was chosen for the storage of highly toxic waste from the chemical industry. The hazardous waste dump was put into operation in 1970.

For a time, it was believed that the clay would ensure the landfill was fully sealed and prevent liquid waste from escaping into the environment. In the mid-1990s, however, it was found that the clay layers were not dense. This leads to pollution of the adjacent fields, rivers and also the atmosphere. Another problem is that the area reserved for the landfill is almost exhausted.

Events

Fire on May 24, 2008

During the investigation into the work of the Krasny Bor landfill in May – June 2007, serious deficiencies and serious violations of Russian environmental protection legislation were discovered. The test was carried out by the Federal Service for Ecological, Technological and Nuclear Monitoring (Rostekhnadzor).

The governor of St. Petersburg Matviyenko supported the project for the construction of a new landfill in Krasny Bor, but she refused the “too high” amount of funding from the city budget and suggested that the project should be postponed.

At noon on May 24, 2008 , barrels of gas oil burned on the territory of the landfill . The fire has spread to 200 m² and could not be stopped despite the active work of the special forces. After a few hours, chemical waste was already burning on an area of 1,800 m², and the fire was not localized until around 9:30 p.m. An analysis of the atmosphere after the fire has shown that the MAK value for the toxic substances in the towns of Krasny Bor, Uljanowka , Nikolskoje and Kolpino was not exceeded. Leningrad Oblast Governor Serdyukov said the causes of the incident were still pending; Leningrad Oblast authorities are considering the possibility of recycling the waste at the Krasny Bor site.

On June 7, 2019, as part of SPIEF'19 , the Environment Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Kobylkin and the Governor of St. Petersburg Alexander Beglow signed a document regulating the recultivation of the landfill. Thus, responsibility for the landfill was transferred to the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Russian Federation . The area is being recultivated as part of the “Clean Land” project and will last until 2024.