An external meeting of RAO Bumprom, dedicated to the World Environment Day, which is celebrated on June 5, was held in Novodvinsk on May 31 - June 1, 2021. The Arkhangelsk Pulp and Paper Mill JSC became the first venue for a new sectorial club of environmental conferences in the Russian PPI, dedicated to topical aspects of environmental legislation.

Despite the traditional composition of the event (the conference was attended by representatives of state supervisory authorities and the business community, who presented reports and cases), the two-day sectorial eco-marathon was informal: it was held offline (with the implementation of preventive measures for COVID19), and all participants of the event could discuss together the new Russian environmental legislation.

During the first day of the conference, the following issues were discussed: standardization of environmental protection while transition to BAT, professional training in the field of environmental protection, climate policy issues, complex ecological permits, the objects of negative environmental impact and extended producer responsibility. The Ecology Departments of the Arkhangelsk PPM, KAMA PPM LLC, Kondopozhskii PPM JSC, ILIM Group presented their cases. The reports were made by CarbonLab LLC and Federal State Autonomous Body Research Institute “Environmental Industrial Policy Centre”.

The second day of conference was devoted to the new requirements of environmental legislation, regulatory enforcement and the procedure for transition to BAT. The management of the Northern Interregional Directorate of Rosprirodnadzor and the representative of the Federal State Autonomous Body Research Institute “Environmental Industrial Policy Centre” spoke about the aspects of the implementation of state environmental supervision in 2021, updating water protection legislation, typical violations in the atmospheric air protection detected during state environmental supervision, as well as the program to improve environmental efficiency. Svetlana Revura, Head of State Environmental Supervision Department in the Arkhangelsk region of the Northern Interregional Directorate of Rosprirodnadzor, noted that the department is ready to discuss the painful problems that exist today, especially in the light of the fact that since July 1, environmental legislation is changing significantly in the terms of supervision.

“A lot of representatives of both government agencies and industrial workers gathered at this conference,” said Vladimir Bobkov, Head of the Novodvinsk local department of Rospotrebnadzor in the Arkhangelsk region. “Through the joint discussions, we will find out certain approach so that, the new legislation is followed when performing supervisory activities and at the same time there is a common understanding among the enterprises we are checking.”

In conclusion, the participants of the environmental conference visited the environmental facilities of the Arkhangelsk PPM, operating in accordance with the principles of BAT: Wood Yard-4, Semi-Chemical Pulp Cooking Plant and a new Evaporation Station.

According to Yuri Lakhtikov, Chairman of the Executive Board of RAO Bumprom, it was on the site of APPM that one could see a model of effective interaction between all links of the chain - the management of the mill and ecologists, the interaction of the enterprise with local environmental and state authorities. “We advise to disseminate this experience to all pulp and paper companies in our country,” said the Head of RAO Bumprom.