Shies protest for the National Geographic Russia

A peaceful protest at the Shies station in the Arkhangelsk region against the construction of an illegal landfill for municipal solid waste from Moscow.

In January 2019, a new reform was proposed to address the capital’s waste crisis. According to the plan, municipal waste from Moscow would be transported to sparsely populated regions of the country and disposed of in specially designated landfills. The first landfill began construction at Shies station (on the border of the Arkhangelsk region and the Komi Republic) even before the reform came into force. The project had neither construction documentation nor environmental approvals.

The site chosen for waste disposal was a marshland. If the landfill had been built, groundwater would have been contaminated. Local residents initiated a peaceful environmental protest, which gradually drew support from people across other regions. After two years of resistance, the construction was ultimately halted.