World congress on Waste Management took place

Vienna Magistrate Department MA 48 and International Association for Waste Management with its seat in Vienna organized in the capital of Austria, from October 7 to 11 this year, the "World Congress on Waste". The slogan of this year's congress was: "Do not repeat mistakes of others!" Specific challenges were presented at the congress, as well as possible solutions, and topics that were discussed spanned from working with public, reduction of waste, implementation of large projects, sorting of waste, energy use, to the current topic – how to, within the area of "Waste Management", handle extreme events such as floods, hurricanes or earthquakes, when in a very short time enormous quantity of waste is collected, and must be removed.

Project of expanding the city landfill in Vranje

Head of the Delegation of the European Union in Serbia Michael Davenport handed over today to the mayor of Vranje Zoran Antić the main design for expansion of city landfill "Meteris", for which the EU and local self-government had allocated EUR 69.000. Landfill "Meteris", which has been used by the city of Vranje for more than ten years, is envisaged as a regional landfill, but this has not been realized until now because of the lack of funds, and the main design has created the conditions for its expansion, for which three million EUR needs to be secured. Davenport assessed the previous cooperation with Vranje as exceptionally successful, and said that "he is especially glad because the EU is supporting projects that are sustainable and useful for the citizens of that part of Serbia".

Regional sanitary landfill of communal waste Banjica

An agreement was signed in Priboj between four municipalities on establishment of joint company "Regional sanitary landfill of communal waste Banjica". The company will conduct activities related to completion of the works on the communal waste landfill for the municipalities of Priboj, Prijepolje, Nova Varoš and Sjenica. This work is entrusted to the Faculty of Technical Sciences from Novi Sad. Pre designing of the landfill is financially supported by program EU PROGRES. The construction of common communal waste landfill "Banjica" will solve for a long term the problem of legal disposal of garbage in four Sandžak municipalities.

Find inspiration for eco-motivation

Within the program "EKOMOTIVACIJA", an open call is announced for submission films made by a mobile phone on topic "Find inspiration for eco-motivation". The films will be presented within the International Festival of Green Culture "Green Fest" in Youth Centre in Belgrade, from November 13 to 15, 2013. The open call is realized in cooperation with company Vip mobile, and the best film will be awarded with one smart phone from the market with integrated projector. Authors may submit their works for presentation at the Festival by November 8, 2013. The International Festival of Green Culture "GREEN FEST" is the largest "green" event in the region, and this year it is taking place for the fourth time in a raw. In previous years, more than 250 films from 35 countries were presented at the Festival, over 60 workshops for students of elementary and secondary schools took place, and more than 30 exhibitors and artist were presented.

Soon a model of financing disposal of pharmaceutical waste

Financing of disposal of several dozen tons of pharmaceutical waste created annually in households of Serbia should be solved by the amended Law on Waste Management that is expected in the upcoming three months, says in the announcement of the Ministry of Energy, Development and Environmental Protection. Representative of the Sector for Environmental Planning and Management of the Ministry of Environmental Protection Radmila Šerović said that representatives of pharmaceutical companies and pharmacies will also participate in making a decision about the method of financing, and expressed her expectation that an enforceable model would be adopted. She also reminded that Serbia still does not have a plant for treatment of about 135 tons of pharmaceutical waste that is generated in one year, and which is currently being exported to the countries of the European Union, most frequently to Austria.

“100% clean, 100% cleaned”

In order to draw the attention on significance of hygiene for health of children, in April and May, company Unilever realized educational, socially responsible campaign "100% clean, 100% cleaned". During this campaign, 70 of elementary schools were cleaned, and company Unilever for all 1246 elementary schools in the territory of Serbia provided a donation – a package of Domestos cleaning agents and educational material. The campaign "100% clean, 100% cleaned" was realized under the auspices of the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health of the Republic of Serbia.

The first recycling centre in Nova Varoš

Head of the Delegation of the European Union in the Republic of Serbia, ambassador Vincent Degert visited Nova Varoš, where he met with the president of the Municipality of Nova Varoš, Dimitrije Paunović, marking the completion of the project of designing and furnishing the Recycling Centre. In this recycling center, several types of waste will be baled under press - paper, pet packaging, glass, metal, and these will be stored until soled to companies for the processing of secondary raw materials. In standard containers on several locations in the city and in villages, waste intended for recycling will be collected. It is expected that this plant will reduce the number of dump sites, especially in reservation Uvac and air spa Zlatar, as well as costs of transportation of garbage, and extend the life cycle of the future sanitary landfill Banjica for four cities, the construction of which has begun six years ago. The goal is to improve the system of collection and separation of waste in Nova Varoš. "Establishment of Recycling Center is in accordance with the national and local strategy of waste management, and recycling is important for economic development. It is expected that the profit of this centre in 2015 will amount to EUR 18,000, and by 2033 it could be as high as EUR 200,000", Degert said.

Standardization as necessary condition for contemporary business

In the Serbian Chamber of Commerce on July 25th 2013 the press conference was held with the topic „Importance of standardization in the Serbian waste industry", in mutual organization by the company MITECO Kneževac and Serbian Chamber of Commerce (PKS). Conference on the importance of standardization in Serbian waste industry was distinguished with the issuance of ISO certificate 9001 and 14001 to the company MITECO Kneževac by their certification company SGS. Conference aimed to the attention of the publicity on the importance of implementation of the standards to the companies due to better and more efficient business.

 

Small capacities of Serbia for adjusting to climate changes

Potential of Serbia to adapt to climate changes in on a low level, which is, according to evaluation conducted by non-governmental organizations, the consequence of absence of a clear and synchronized national policy of adaptation, but also lack of money for practical implementation of measures established thus far. "For the beginning of any serious story about struggle against climate change, it would be ideal to prepare a national strategy of adaptation to climate changes, but its preparation, because of multi-disciplinary approach and necessary participation of a large number of experts, implies investment of several million Euros", Program Director of the Centre for Improvement of the Environment, Vladan Šćekić, said.

1.6 million tons of waste in Serbia annually

Waste of any kind directly affects people's health and has negative influence on the living environment, because it pollutes the soil, air and water. European Union has started solving these problems related to removal and recycling of packaging waste, and it is yet to be adopted by the countries that want to become full members of the EU. At the average, every citizen of Serbia daily "produces" 0.76 kilograms of waste, which means that a family of four discards about one ton every year. The most alarming is the fact that in Serbia as much as 80 percent of this waste is disposed on landfills. This leads to an alarming fact that about 1.6 million tons of waste is disposed in landfills in Serbia in one year. One half is biodegradable waste, and between 20 and 25 is packaging waste, which is recyclable. This data was presented by company Sekopak, one of the leading companies for collection of packaging waste in Serbia.

Ninoslava Ignjatović, Ninoslava Ignjatović, Engineer for Environmental Protection and Occupational Health and Safety at Grundfos

Occupational health and safety and environmental protection are the priority in operations of company Grundfos, we have learned in an interview with Ninoslava Ignjatović, Engineer for Environmental Protection and Occupational Health and Safety at Grundfos. This is exactly why Grundfos has been insisting on transparency of the Policy of Occupational Health and Safety and Policy of Environmental Protection, directed at all stakeholders.

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