In the past four years, over 2,200 tonnes of scrap metal have been shipped from Wrangel Island, a habitat of polar bears.

Over 40 military ecologists with special equipment are currently working on the island. They only collect scrap metal in the summer.

Members of the Eastern Military District’s interservice environmental team have already prepared over 23 tonnes of scrap for shipping.

The team is collecting and compressing empty iron drums in the village of Ushakovskoye and is cleaning up the coast of Rogers Bay.

By the end of September, military ecologists are to collect and compress over 150 tonnes of empty iron drums.

Vladimir Putin pointed out the need to carry out an environmental cleanup campaign during his visit to Alexandra Land, an island in the Franz Josef Land archipelago.

The environmental cleanups began in the Arctic in 2012.

The focus is on preventing further deterioration of the environmental situation.

(Photo © Ilya Timin/RIA Novosti)