OAO Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) was pronounced the winner of the 6th All-Russian contest on Conservational Activity Leadership. The contest was organized within the framework of the 6th All-Russian environmental conference New National Environmental Policy Priorities in The Real Sector. MMK’s management received the Environmental Safety medal.

MMK’s capital spending on the construction of the new and the renovation of the existing conservational facilities amounted to nearly 9 billion RUR between 1999 and 2009. The company now directs over 1 billion RUR to conservational facilities maintenance every year, MMK PR Director Vladimir Ruga announced at the environmental conference.

Ruga presented a report on the enterprise’s technological upgrade stages and the gradual decrease in the scale of the company’s negative environmental impact that these upgrades brought about. MMK’s environmental strategy is targeted at switching to new technological processes, introducing the best conservational and environmental structures to the production process, and getting rid of the obsolete equipment. The company’s technical upgrade program resulted in both the radical changes in MMK’s production structure and a considerable drop in pollution rates. For one, the company’s gross emissions declined by 3.5 times in 2009 compared with 1999, whereas its specific discharges dropped by 2.5 times.

MMK’s environmental facilities now comprise 438 gas-cleaning units of varying capacity, 51 re-circulating water supply systems, 38 water treatment units, and 9 production waste treatment installations. What is more, nearly all the facilities have been upgraded or have been given an overhaul over the last decade.

Vladimir Ruga said the company’s experience with conservational activity proved that the greatest environmental yield can be expected from complex, multi-faceted renovation and production process improvement programs which, among other things, help to reduce the human impact on the environment.