The ecological expedition to the Lekvozh mountain in the Polar Urals started in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area. Clean Arctic volunteers travelled to this mountainous area for the first time, the organisation's press service informed TASS on Wednesday.

'Clean Arctic volunteers have been cleaning up protected areas, islands and the shores of the White Sea, but are yet to work in the mountains. It is important to emphasise that the federal project implies not only cleaning up the waste accumulated since Soviet times, but also recycling it. The removal of scrap metal and bulky waste collected in the mountain massif will require a lot of effort and take some time, given the specifics of the area,' the press service quotes Ruslan Gubaidullin, Chairman of the Board of the ANCO Clean Arctic.

The Arctic team included volunteers from Moscow, Voronezh, Naberezhnye Chelny, Kemerovo and other Russian cities. It will take them several hours by bus, ferry and cross-country vehicle to get to the foot of Lekvozh mountain. Volunteers will need to climb 1,000 m above sea level daily to clean up the abandoned communications station, where industrial and household waste has accumulated over the years.

The Clean Arctic project is a large-scale campaign to clean up the Arctic territory from waste accumulated since Soviet times.