JSC “AlES”: in 3 hours twenty 160 liter bags of garbage were collected on the river. Checkpoint

At the beginning of June, the company’s ecologists held an eco-landing party to collect garbage “#Өzende қokyska oryn zhok”

In Kazakhstan, June 5 is a professional holiday – Ecologist’s Day. This date was approved in Kazakhstan by presidential decree in 2011.

For the third year now, environmentalists at AlES JSC have been holding a field campaign on the Prokhodnaya River in the Alma-Arasan Gorge.

Man is the creator of his environment, which ensures not only his physical existence, but also provides him with opportunities for intellectual, moral, social and spiritual development.

“We were depressed by the sight of the Prokhodnaya River, bags of garbage, plastic cups, bags and plates, broken glass. We call this “Gifts of Civilization”. There is a lot of plastic, given that the average decomposition time of plastic products ranges from 80 to 700 years, the main concerns are that plastic, when it gets into the ground, breaks down into small particles and can release chemicals added to them during production into the environment ,” Saltanat Zhanakhmetova, chief specialist of the Environmental Protection Department, expressed her concern. “It’s painful and unpleasant to watch.” People, unfortunately, do not think about their actions and the fact that the river is the wealth of our world.

– The expected result of the field event is that we want to attract the attention of Almaty residents and the public to environmental issues and the condition of the river. Having cleared the bed of the Prokhodnaya River, we did not stop there; we increased the area being cleaned: we went up to the GES-5 dam, where we also cleaned the river bed. What we saw amazed us – how carelessly and unscrupulously people treat nature. The garbage is thrown out directly in bags, although the walk to the garbage containers is not far at all. As a result of the action, the eco-troopers   collected  twenty 160 liter bags of garbage in 3 hours ,  ” Elena Silvestrova, chief specialist of the Environmental Protection Department, shared her opinion.

– The harm caused by plastic waste is much greater than it might seem at first glance. At the same time, more and more plastic is produced every year; according to official data, more plastic has been produced in the last decade than in the last hundred years. This creates a truly huge problem that affects the planet from all sides.

“If people don’t stop using single-use plastics such as plastic bags and plastic bottles, by 2050 there will be more plastic in the world’s oceans than fish,” say the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).

How can we help? It is enough for each person to reconsider his habits a little:

– try not to use plastic bags. You can go to the store with a cloth grocery bag and wrap your food in paper bags;
– do not use disposable plastic tableware;
– do not buy water in plastic bottles, get a reusable container and carry it with you or take a thermos with hot drinks.

Let’s not forget the words of the French geographer and sociologist Jean-Jacques Elisée Reclus: “rivers carry on their waves the history and life of peoples.” AlES environmentalists urge people to keep them clean so that the rivers continue to bring history and life to everything on Earth.