The whole of Mendeleev’s periodic table of elements is dissolved in the air of Donetsk with methane ac- counting for half of the emissions. However, due to the fact that this gas is non-toxic it is often not taken into consideration when calculating the level of pollution. Apart from methane, the highest levels of emis- sions are due to dust, sulphur com- pounds, nitrogen and carbon oxides. Other harmful substances make up no more than 2 per cent of the total emissions, although they are even more toxic than those mentioned above and include ammonia, phe- nol, formaldehyde and heavy metals (lead, chromium, manganese, zinc) as well as carcinogenic benzopyrene.


The result is that your lungs would not notice much difference between a walk down the street and working at the blast furnace or coke oven. According to data from the World


“The polluted air of a typical industrial Euro- pean city reduces the life of its residents by eight months. In Donetsk the figure is eight years.”


Health Organization, the pol- luted air of a typical industrial European city reduces the life of its residents by eight months. In Donetsk the figure is eight years.


Gas may be getting more expensive, but they still burn it Only one of more than 10 mines operating in the area recovers waste gas, rather than just burn- ing it. One such facility was built a couple of years ago and uses methane for the needs of the mine, recovering heat and elec- tricity. It has cut annual emis- sions by 3.8 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent. The plant has the technical capacity to sell en- ergy to the city but this system is not yet operational.


Local residents will often assure you that they are fine, the city is growing and bad air is just a re- sult of many cars on the streets. Maybe the environmentalists are wrong? But how can we then ex- plain what was said by one of the plant workers: “The whole of my salary is spent on health treat- ment for my children, with no money left for myself”.


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