Roughly 150,000 tons of plastic waste are produced in Bosnia and Herzegovina annually of which only 2% is recycled.[1] What if instead of sitting in a landfill, this material could be repurposed as a valuable material for future products? This is one piece of the circular economy concept: closing the loops of what we produce so that rather than a linear extract-produce-discard cycle, we have a self-contained use-reuse-repurpose cycle. There is likely immense potential in Bosnia and Herzegovina towards more circular waste management practices and businesses. However, very little data and concrete information exists on the exact situation, making kickstarting initiatives difficult.
Recognizing this potential and the need for concrete data to guide evidence-based action, the MOZAIK Foundation funded the consultancy: “Market research of plastic packaging in Bosnia and Herzegovina in terms of its availability as raw material for recycling”. Through this consultancy, the CENER team assessed the availability and feasibility of using local plastic waste in plastic recycling projects. This included investigating the market situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina in terms of the availability of plastic packaging as a raw material and assessing the potential for purchasing plastic and the quality of plastic required for recycling.
The initiative specifically focused on the potential for the uptake of initiatives to convert plastics into pyrolysis oils. As such, a variety of plastic packaging types were focused upon, including low density polyethylene (LDPE), high density polyethylene (HDPE) and polypropylene (PP). Research was conducted to evaluate the situation of suppliers of plastic waste, primary legal entities, and existing capacity for plastic sorting in both the Republika Srpska and Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina entities. Detailed maps were prepared of the entire process of plastic waste procurement. Furthermore, the daily, weekly, and monthly amounts of available plastic waste for purchase and the trends in the plastic recycling market were calculated and analyzed. The findings of this research were presented in a final report to guide future decision making in the plastic recycling industry in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
[1] Based on the findings of the 2018 UNDP report: Izvještaj o transponiranju Direktive o plastici za jednokratnu upotrebu i njenom uticaju na ekonomiju u Bosni i Hercegovini.