The Zero Waste Municipalities project team continues with introductory meetings with pilot municipalities in and Herzegovina. On 22nd of April 2021, CENER 21 project team, visited Ilijaš for a meeting with the representatives of Municipality of Ilijaš, representatives of public utility for waste management Rad and representatives of high school center Nedžad Ibrišimović. The focus of the meeting was the presentation of project’s objectives, activities and expected results to relevant stakeholders in Ilijaš.
The representatives of the local community and the public utility were introduced with the model of circular economy as well as the concept of zero waste. It was highlighted how this concept will improve the quality of life of citizens of Ilijaš.
The Zero Waste Municipalities project aims to increase public awareness of the population in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina and contribute to the improvement of socio – economic development in the cross – border area, through the implementation of targeted and concrete actions on empowerment of the waste management system.
Project activities planned to be implemented in Ilijaš are:
- Development of a Zero Waste Action Plan;
- Development of technical-investment documentation for Zero Waste concept;
- Development of an interactive GIS map with the locations of illegal landfills in the area of Ilijaš;
- Cleaning of one selected illegal landfill;
- Procurement and installation of containers for separate waste collection and equipment for improvement of municipal waste management system.
Besides, the project will also focus on strengthening public awareness of citizens in the pilot municipality. Hence, the project activities will include educational training programs for representatives of public institutions and local communities in the project area. The exchange of knowledge and good practices will be realized through a joint study visit to the Regional Center for Waste Management in Maribor, Slovenia.
The project activity set will include the introduction of an extracurricular program on circular economy and the Zero Waste concept in a selected high school center in Ilijaš. The school will, in addition to training for teachers and students, receive recycling equipment that will be used for practical lessons.
The Ilijaš municipality is one of the six municipalities in the cross-border area and it will be among the first municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina to begin the process of transition to a circular economy.
“The importance of the Zero Waste Municipalities project is reflected in the broader impact that will result from the implementation of project activities, which will direct the solution of challenges in the waste management system to the concept of zero waste and ultimately to the circular economy.” – highlighted Šejla Mahmutović, an expert for resource efficiency and circular economy from CENER 21.
The Zero Waste Municipalities project is implemented within IPA cross-border cooperation programme between Serbia and BiH and co-funded by the European Union. The total budget of the project is 413,608.44 EUR, of which the European Union provided 351,567.17 EUR in grants. It is implemented with joint forces of Center For energy, Environment and Resources – CENER 21 (BiH) and Environment Engineering Group – EEG (Serbia). The contracting authority for this project is the Ministry of Finance, Sector for Contracting and Financing of Programs from European Union Funds (CFCU) of Republic of Serbia.