Up to 10 thousand eco-boxes should appear in Bashkiria by 2017

UFA, 30 November 2015. /Bashinform News Agency, Gulfiya Akulova/. By 2017, up to 10 thousand eco-boxes - special containers for disposal of hazardous waste should appear in Bashkortostan. This was announced by the head of the All-Russian Social Environmental Project "Eco-Box" Alexander Gusev.

The first terminals of the 1-4 hazard class waste reception - energy-saving, and fluorescent lamps, compact power supplies, batteries, mercury thermometers and other mercury-containing articles began to appear in Bashkortostan three years ago. Today in the republic there are more than one thousand special containers.

After testing a pilot project in the region eco-boxes were established in Moscow and the Moscow Region, in the Krasnodar region, Surgut, Chelyabinsk region, Yekaterinburg.

The main purpose of the project is to place as many as possible special containers, where citizens will be able to dispose waste that need to be taken to special landfill and be disposed at specialized recycling companies. The used and overage compact fluorescent lamps, batteries, thermometers contain mercury, nickel, cadmium, lead, lithium, manganese and zinc. This a whole set of heavy metals is not only hazardous to environment, but also detrimental to the human body.

Reference. In Russia every year about 140 million energy-saving bulbs got out of order and only 20% of them are disposed properly. One thrown away battery is capable to irreversibly contaminate up to 20 sq. m of soil.