The comprehensive cleanup of the Arctic will span more than a year. The anthropogenic waste accumulated over the past fifty years of active regional exploration will take considerable time to clear due to its volume, logistical challenges and the harsh climate that hinders regular transportation. Most volunteer programmes aimed at reducing pollution in Russia's Arctic region are planned for several decades of active work. Green Arctic, one of the most respected and long-term contemporary projects, announced its work plans at the start of 2024.

Next year, Russian activists have scheduled two expeditions. The first expedition will be conducted near the Mys Kamenny settlement on the Yamal Peninsula's coast. Volunteers will be tasked with cleaning cluttered areas and tearing down old structures. In the Arctic, it's often more feasible to construct a new facility than to repair an existing one. However, unused buildings gradually decay and collapse, occupying valuable space and hindering the ecosystem's natural recovery. Landfills left from the Soviet era pose a distinct problem. The Mys-Kamenskoye municipal district administration, in collaboration with Gazpromneft, has already cleared 3 sq km of old waste dumps, but there is still work to be done. The process is slow, partly because the waste needs to be transported by specially chartered and paid-for ships. Nevertheless, the collaboration between local authorities, volunteers and major extraction projects is helping to address this issue.

The second expedition by Green Arctic will head to the Ingilor Nature Park. There, the team will focus on collecting solid household waste and dismantling old structures. While there are no permanent human settlements within the protected area, economic activities in the past century have left their mark. For instance, the Molybdenovy mine, where prisoners laboured in the 1950s, is located within its boundaries. While volunteers won't dismantle this historical site, they will remove the fuel barrels, metal scraps and dilapidated barracks unfit for restoration left behind by humans and transport them to the mainland for recycling. The area also contains missile silos from the Cold War era and a section of 'Construction 501,' an abandoned railway intended to connect the country's northern regions. The railway was never completed, and as nature gradually erodes the remnants of worker settlements, prisoner camps, and the railway itself, all that remains is to document these fading traces. The Russian Geographical Society conducted several expeditions between 2007 and 2009, during which they managed to photograph and describe some of the deteriorating structures.

Anyone interested can join an expedition with Green Arctic, but they must first pass a selection process. The first step is to submit an application on the organisation's website in March of this year. After the selection process, candidates will undergo an interview and psychological compatibility testing, as working in harsh northern conditions requires every team member to be essential and compatible. Only a cohesive team can withstand the challenges of the Arctic and successfully complete the assigned task. Incidentally, volunteers are expected to undergo training that will continue until May. The expedition in 2024 requires a total of 40 people.

Since 2014, the Green Arctic Project has seen the participation of 400 volunteers from 12 countries, who have cleaned up 500 ha of land and manually collected 280 thousand tons of scrap metal.

Thanks to the efforts of courageous volunteers, two islands have been completely cleaned and one polar bear has been saved. There have been a total of 17 expeditions to various locations within the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area. Besides cleaning up the area, the Green Arctic volunteers are also actively involved in educational activities, and this will continue into the next year. The volunteers will carry on with the local Ecology Inside programme, which saw 200 teenagers clear 45 ha of land and remove almost 250 tons of garbage last year, in addition to hosting several online events. These events can be joined from any part of the country.