"PlyWood" is a woodworking company operating in Gorodets, Nizhny Novgorod Region. The enterprise is engaged in plywood production; by mid-2026 the plant was in active production.[1]

Residents' Complaints and Environmental Inspection

In July 2026, the Ministry of Ecology of Nizhny Novgorod Region began receiving appeals from Gorodets residents complaining of dark (according to other descriptions, yellow) smoke from the enterprise's chimney and a sharp smell resembling burning, scorched rubber, and plastic. According to townspeople, the emissions occurred most often at night or in the early morning, penetrated apartments, and forced people to close their windows. Residents with chronic illnesses reported difficulty breathing and the need to use inhalers; parents of children at the nearest kindergartens asked teachers not to take the little ones out for walks during the emissions.[1] Before July 2026, the Ministry of Ecology had received no similar complaints.[2]

Earlier, townspeople say, they had repeatedly appealed to Rospotrebnadzor, the city administration, the Ministry of Ecology, and the prosecutor's office, but each time received replies that there were no excesses of harmful substances. A representative of the enterprise denied that "PlyWood" was responsible for the smell, citing earlier measurements within permissible limits, and suggested that the complaints might be connected with possible civil lawsuits against the company.[1]

On August 4, 2026, specialists of the Ministry of Ecology, together with employees of the State Budgetary Institution of Nizhny Novgorod Region "Ecology of the Region", took air samples in the vicinity of the enterprise; during the night hours of August 5, the work continued using a mobile laboratory. According to the results of the studies, exceedances of the permissible standards for a number of pollutants were recorded.[3]

Response Measures

The data obtained were sent to the Nizhny Novgorod Interdistrict Environmental Prosecutor's Office and the Rospotrebnadzor Directorate for prosecutorial response measures and verification of compliance with sanitary legislation. The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Nizhny Novgorod Region sent PlyWood LLC a warning about the inadmissibility of violating mandatory requirements in the field of atmospheric air protection.[3] The situation was also under the control of the head of Gorodets Municipal Okrug, Alexander Mudrov; the okrug administration itself appealed to Rospotrebnadzor.[1] The problem was publicly reported by Legislative Assembly of Nizhny Novgorod Region deputy Vladislav Atmakhov.[4]

Sources

  1. NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" — Residents of Gorodets Are Choking on Acrid Stench: What the Ministry of Ecology Says (archive)
  2. Newsroom24 — Complaints About Smoke and a Sharp Odor From an Enterprise to Be Investigated in Gorodets (archive)
  3. Vremya N — Ministry of Ecology Checked Air Quality in Gorodets After Citizen Complaints (archive)
  4. Open Nizhny — Ministry of Ecology to Check Air in Gorodets After Residents' Complaints About Acrid Smell (archive)