Waste management remains a key environmental challenge in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A lack of sophisticated management means that early all industrial waste ends up in landfills, such as the regional landfill Mošćanica in the Zenica-Doboj Canton. While landfilling remains a necessary piece of the waste management hierarchy, overreliance on this practice can lead to environmental challenges while further limiting the potential for reuse and revalorization of waste products. At the Mošćanica landfill, industrial textile and wood waste are especially challenging to waste managers. These make up some of the largest sources of waste, with the amounts being produced on the rise. This wood and textile waste represents significant lost economic potential, as much of this waste could likely be redirected and used as material in the production process.
Funded by the UNDP and implemented by CENER 21 alongside with ENOVA and REIC, the project aims to conduct detailed mapping and analysis of waste flows from the region’s largest textile manufacturers and key wood processing companies. These efforts focus on tracking and understanding both pre-consumer and post-consumer waste, examining how these materials are handled from the point of creation to their eventual disposal. By identifying effective ways to improve the circularity of these waste flows, the project seeks to propose the implementation of measures that can transform waste into a valuable resource, thus supporting the adoption of circular economy principles within local industries.