CENER 21 successfully conducted the series of introductory meetings with pilot municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina on Zero Waste Municipalities project.

The final meeting was held on May 5th, 2021 in pilot municipality Sarajevo Center and gathered 7 participants, representatives of Sarajevo Center Municipality, representatives of public utility for waste management Rad, representatives of high school Prva gimnazija Sarajevo and experts from Center for Energy, Environment and Resources – CENER 21. Participants had the opportunity to find out more about the model of circular economy and the concept of Zero waste, and its benefits for the local community and society in general.

The project team presented project’s objectives, activities and expected results, as well as responsibilities of each stakeholder involved in the project implementation. The importance of successful implementation of project activities for the socio – economic development of the of Sarajevo Center municipality was also emphasized.

The project aims to address the challenges the waste management system is facing in the entire cross-border area between Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina placing focus on six pilot municipalities: Visoko, Ilijaš and Sarajevo Center in BiH and Bajina Bašta, Vladimirci and Krupanj in Serbia.

Sarajevo Center is one of six pilot municipalities where the following activities will be implemented:

  • Development of a Zero Waste Action Plan;
  • Development of technical-investment documentation for the concept of zero waste;
  • Development of an interactive GIS map with locations of illegal landfills at the territory of Sarajevo Center;
  • Cleaning of one selected illegal landfill in the Municipality;
  • Procurement and installation of containers for separate waste collection and equipment for improvement of waste management system in Sarajevo Center.

Although the project activities will affect waste management system driving positive change, the approach is also holistic and preventive, same as the Zero waste concept itself. It requires the change in the mentality and attitude of citizens towards the problem. In this purpose, project activities will include stakeholder capacity building and raising public awareness.

Therefore, the education system will be supported through introduction of an extracurricular program on circular economy and the zero waste concept in six pilot high schools in the CBC area. In Sarajevo Center the selected high school is Prva gimnazija Sarajevo where education training for teachers and students will be organized and they will receive recycling equipment for practical lessons.

The educational workshops will also be organized for the representatives of public utilities for waste management and local communities. To enable networking and the exchange of knowledge and good practices the team will organize joint study visit to the Regional Center for Waste Management in Maribor, Slovenia. Hence, the project will connect all relevant stakeholders and contribute to the socio-economic development in the cross-border area through the implementation of targeted and concrete actions to improve the waste management system.

“The key to success lies in the mutual cooperation of all institutions and actors involved in the implementation of project activities, which will support the direction of waste management policies towards the concept of zero waste and circular economy.” – pointed out Azra Merzić, project coordinator on behalf of 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.