Eco lessons, Paper Battle and large-scale clean-up: TAIF-NK takes an active part in sanitary two-month campaign

“The city needs care”

Early Saturday morning, the activist group of TAIF-NK JSC gathered together to do a common good deed — to restore order at the spring on Mendeleev Street. This place is among the favourite among the residents of Nizhnekamsk. Citizens come here for drinking water or just to relax in the midst of nature.

“Spring is taking over and requires cleanliness. Nature is awakening, reviving. And the city in which we live needs to be cared for, cleaned of dirt and debris that has accumulated over the winter period. How Nizhnekamsk looks, by and large, depends on each of us. We are happy to come here to put things in order," said Radmila Mukhametshina, an engineer of the refinery mechanical department at TAIF-NK JSC.

Last year, the company's activist group already carried out general cleaning here. In the autumn, employees collected garbage, painted benches, and mowed the grass. But, unfortunately, after the winter, there was no trace of the previous cleanliness left.

“It's not the first year we've been putting things in order here. We decided to continue this good tradition. Many residents of Nizhnekamsk come here, including elderly people. I would like there to be order. Maybe, looking at us, people will take care of nature more carefully, they will maintain cleanliness," admitted Dilara Yusupova, a clerk of the TAIF-NK oil refinery.

In just a few hours, the activists of the oil refining company all together collected last year's grass, dry branches, painted benches, and put the collapsed brickwork in order. The spring began to shine again.

“We need to work for the good of our city. Give young people the right direction so that they take care of the environment, do not waste. It is necessary to lead an active lifestyle, and not sit at home like lazybones," said Rinal Khamidullin, an operator of technological unit of the HRCC of TAIF-NK JSC.

A united team to subbotnik

While some employees of TAIF-NK JSC were cleaning the spring, others were cleaning up on Lesnaya Street at the same time. This territory has been assigned to the oil refinery for many years. Armed with rakes, shovels and brooms, employees of all departments put things in order — they collected fallen leaves, dry branches, large and small household garbage, cleaned the curbs from dirt and sand.

“The central republican subbotnik is being held in Tatarstan. It is organised by the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Tatarstan. We supported the government's initiative. Each of us cares deeply about Nizhnekamsk. I would like our city to be clean and beautiful. I am glad that we can contribute to this good cause," said Irina Kolobkova, the head of the Department of Control and Analysis of the management system of TAIF-NK JSC.

By the way, the employees of TAIF-NK JSC began to restore order on Lesnaya already in early April, when a sanitary two-month campaign was announced in Nizhnekamsk. The representatives of the company were among the first to take to the streets of their hometown to make it beautiful, clean and comfortable to live in.

“I believe that after the winter, subbotniks should be held as often as possible and in accordance with one's own conviction. We have been patronising this street, cleaning it for several weeks. And the fact that we were also given an extra Saturday so that we could once again go out and restore order, we perceive as trust," said Igor Rumyantsev, the chief of the Civil Defence Staff of TAIF-NK JSC.

Bring paper — plant a tree

Taking care of the environment is not an empty phrase for the employees of JSC TAIF-NK. The company's employees take an active part not only in republican and city environmental actions, but also carry out their own environmental measures.

So this time, they did not limit themselves to cleaning the spring and Lesnaya Street alone. As part of the implementation of the national project “Ecology”, the large-scale action “Paper Battle” has been held at the enterprise. Its main goal is to unite as many people as possible for the important cause of preserving the environment, to remind the residents of the country that paper is a valuable raw material that can and should be sent for processing.

Each employee of the company could bring unnecessary books, cardboard boxes, notebooks or newspapers from home. It was decided to purchase new tree seedlings for planting with the proceeds from the waste paper collection. On the first day of the campaign, the company's employees brought 1,200 kg of waste paper. This is a very good result, environmentalists say.

“One tonne of recyclable materials saves 1,000 kilowatts of electricity, 200 cubic metres of water, saves about 10 trees from cutting. By giving the paper a new life, we are making an undeniable contribution to the preservation of our country's forests," Alyona Mukharnikova, an environmental protection engineer at TAIF-NK JSC, stressed the importance of this action.

Anzhelika Ilyina, the inspector for the admission regime of TAIF-NK JSC, and her four-year-old son Stepan took part in the “Paper Battle”. They brought more than 30 kilogrammes of paper.

“Now there is a shortage of paper in the country, every piece of paper is worth its weight in gold. Recycled paper is our everything. We brought old books, children's drawings — we collected everything that was at home," she said.

“We brought old paper for recycling to get new sheets for drawing," Stepan, the youngest participant of the action, shared his impressions.

Following the results of the “Paper Battle”, the winner will be announced among the company's divisions. The team that brought the largest amount of waste paper will receive an incentive prize.

Eco-lessons in schools

TAIF-NK JSC encourages not only its employees, but also young residents of Nizhnekamsk to take care of the environment, consciously consume natural resources. To do this, the company's ecologists conduct eco-lessons in educational institutions of the city.

Similar meetings have already been held in schools No. 3 and 10. The main goal is to form the right eco-habits and responsible attitude to the environment in the children.

“I consider it a very important initiative to increase and develop the culture of separate garbage collection. It is especially important to do this among children and young people. Eco-lessons are held in an interactive form of a game, which give the opportunity to speak with children simply, in their language. Thus, the children have the opportunity to ask their questions and express their opinion on the topic of environmental protection that is relevant today," says Alyona Mukharnikova, engineer of the Environmental Protection Department of TAIF-NK JSC.

Thanks to the eco-lessons of TAIF-NK JSC, children have the opportunity to learn more information about which materials are the most environmentally friendly today, how they are recycled, and what can be made from recycled materials.

In the course of the lesson, children have a lot of questions. Children are interested in how to properly sort waste, save electricity, and reduce emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere. Environmentalists of TAIF-NK JSC give detailed answers to each question asked.

“This is very interesting. I learned a lot of new and interesting things about how to preserve nature. It is necessary to use bicycles more often, turn off the tap with water when brushing your teeth, do not leave appliances on, phone charges. I will follow all these simple rules," said Ivan, a 5th grade student at school No. 10.

“I liked the information about the collection of plastic waste. It turns out that it is possible make clothes out of plastic bottles. I didn't know about this before. Thank you very much for such an interesting lecture," admitted Ksenia, a student of the 6th grade of school No. 10.

At the end of the meeting, the management of School No. 10 thanked the employees of TAIF-NK JSC for their attention.

“An ecological two-month campaign is currently taking place in Nizhnekamsk. The issues of environmental education belong to the category of significant ones. The cleanliness of our city will depend on how we bring up our children. Employees of TAIF-NK came to us with the initiative to hold an eco-lesson. This is very important. Knowledge in the field of environment is not only education, it is an increase in environmental responsibility. Moreover, children receive information from environmental specialists. This knowledge will be useful to them in life, will contribute to the general cultural level," said the director of school No. 10, Andrey Blikin.

Green technologies of TAIF-NK JSC

For TAIF-NK JSC, environmental responsibility is not only a law, but also a mechanism for sustainable development. Every year, the company implements a whole range of measures to prevent environmental damage and prevent negative consequences of the company's activities.

The company is implementing the large-scale environmental programme Clean Air to reduce emissions into the atmosphere. From 2016 to 2021, outdated burners were replaced at the facilities of TAIF-NK JSC. The company has completely abandoned liquid fuel in furnaces. Discharges to all flare units were reduced, excess gas went for secondary production. Steam-out during the preparation of equipment for major repairs now takes place in closed mode.

“A lot of environmental measures were implemented last year. The company excluded the discharge of hydrocarbon gas onto the flare due to the use of a gas equalisation line on spherical tanks. A system was implemented to bypass the gas mixture from one tank to the next during filling and emptying. As a result, there was a decrease in the emission of pollutants due to a reduction in the discharge of hydrocarbon gas on the flare, and the consumption of nitrogen to create excess pressure in the tanks was significantly reduced," says Ruslan Valiev, the head of the Environmental Protection Department.

The use of the specialised Grace additive in the reactor unit of Shop No. 01 of the gasoline plant as part of the catalytic system made it possible to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides to 29 mg/Nm3. For comparison, at similar units in Russia, this level is 35-50 mg/Nm3, in European countries — no more than 300 mg/Nm3.

According to the results of measurements carried out by the sanitary and industrial laboratory of TAIF-NK JSC, since the introduction of the additive into the system, the gross emission of nitrogen oxides at the enterprise has decreased by 0,167 thousand tons/year.

The result of the implementation of all environmental measures since 2016 is a reduction in emissions of pollutants by 2,20 thousand tonnes in the whole enterprise (from 14,03 thousand tonnes to 11,83 thousand tonnes).

With care for the environment

Within the framework of the environmental programme Clean Water in 2017, all commissioning works for the reconstruction of the local industrial wastewater treatment plant were completed at TAIF-NK JSC. The total cost of the work amounted to 3,7 billion rubles.

Local treatment facilities have proven their effectiveness. From 2015 to 2021, more than 10 million cubic metres of water were purified and re-directed to production needs. But it is not enough to reconstruct a nature conservation facility, it must be maintained in a working condition. Therefore, in order to create high concentrations of activated sludge in membrane bioreactors and retain it in the air tanks of the workshop, 864 units of membrane ultrafiltration modules were replaced.

Also, the gasoline plant has mastered the technology of involving phenol-containing effluents in the composition of flushing water used for electric desalting of oil in electric dehydrogenators of refineries.

The company has organised selective accumulation of waste in specially equipped places that exclude environmental pollution. In 2021, the share of waste transferred for recycling amounted to more than 90%, while only 2% of the total amount of waste was sent for disposal.

The company regularly takes part in environmental actions, planting tree seedlings. In 2020 alone, in the sanitary protection zone of the Nizhnekamsk industrial complex near the village of Alan from September to October, the company's employees planted 104 thousand seedlings of spruce and 45 thousand seedlings of oak on an area of 39,2 hectares.

For 5 years, agrotechnical tending will be carried out to improve the conditions of root nutrition, increase the survival rate, safety and speed of growth of seedlings.

The achievements of TAIF-NK JSC in the field of environmental protection were highly appreciated by the jury members of the prestigious republican contest ECOleader. By its results, the oil refining company took the first place in the nomination “Oil and gas industry”. They are not going to stop there.

TAIF-NK JSC will continue to be a socially and environmentally oriented enterprise. In the field of environmental protection, the company has a systematic approach, the implementation of which will improve the well-being of not only the company's employees and citizens, but also the residents of the republic as a whole.

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