March 12, 2013. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) has spent over 7bn RUR on reconstructing the existing and building new green facilities over the last five years. Also, over 1.5bn RUR is spent on maintaining these facilities every year, the company’s Environmental Protection Lab Director Oleg Drobny said in the course of a recent round table discussion in Chelyabinsk.

The company’s conservational activity is mainly targeted at air protection. MMK currently operates 445 gas-purifying units and has spent more than 1bn RUR on reconstructing the existing and building new air-protecting facilities over the last five years. The implementation of protective measures has meant the company reduced its emissions by 11,000 tons, or 5% in the last five years. The company will keep up with these efforts in 2013-2015 as well, which will allow the company to reach the required maximum permissible discharge limits by 2015.

As for the protection of water objects, the main point is to recycle as much water for technical purposes as possible. MMK is now using 57 local re-circulating water supply systems and 33 water-filtering units. In fact, the share of re-circulated water has stood at 96% for the last three years. All in all, MMK has spent over 5bn RUR on reconstructing the existing and building new water-recycling facilities over the last five years.