August 2022
This week, in Sremska Mitrovica, the first emptying of bins for the separation of metal, plastic and paper waste was successfully carried out, within the scope of the project "Odvajamo" implemented by the Ministry of Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia, with the support of the European Union and the Embassy of Sweden.
The Project for Household Waste Separation - "Odvajamo" will establish a waste separation system at the point of origin in 17 municipalities of Serbia by investing in equipment and informing citizens about the advantages of household waste separation with regards to its subsequent successful recycling and reduction of the amount of waste that ends up in landfills. Municipalities that participate in the project are Sremska Mitrovica, Čačak, Pirot, Čajetina, Bajina Bašta, Dimitrovgrad, Bogatić, Babušnica, Ivanjica, Užice, Šabac, Kosjerić, Bela Palanka, Požega, Lučani, Šid and Pančevo. For Sremska Mitrovica, 7,571 blue household bins for separating paper, plastic and metal, 245 yellow containers for separating glass and blue containers for paper, plastic and metal, as well as 2 vehicles for collecting waste that will be separated at the point of origin, have been provided.
The authorities in Sremska Mitrovica assessed that the realized stage of the project exceeded their expectations already in the first week when the emptying of bins for the separation of metal, plastic and paper began, and that they commend the citizens for showing great conscientiousness when it comes to separating waste and protecting the environment.
By participating in the "Odvajamo" project, Sremska Mitrovica expresses its desire to continuously work to preserve the environment
So far, more than 6,300 bins have been distributed and there is another 1,500 bins that will soon be distributed to the remaining districts, so that the implementation of the project could continue at the same pace and with equal success.
Dražen Riđošić, head of the City Administration for Social Protection and Environmental Protection, expressed his satisfaction with the commitment of the citizens. As he states: "The city of Sremska Mitrovica is a partner in the Project of Household Waste Separation and participated in all activities in the field of the implementation of this project, as you can see, the citizens received blue bins. In their households, they separate waste, specifically in these blue bins they separate metal, plastic and paper. I would also appeal to other citizens who have not taken bins to do so at the PUC "Komunalije" and in this way protect our life environment and reduce the amount of waste. Also, the City will do everything, provide measures and implement activities in the future to protect the environment, our citizens and their safety."
Over 5000kg of recyclable material has been collected in this early activity covering part of the city and 98% of collected waste from metal, plastic and paper bins is clean
Tamara Milković, PR of PUC "Komunalije", expressed her satisfaction with the successful start of the phase of emptying the collected waste: "We finally got to start the first emptying of the blue bins that were distributed through the local communities a few months ago and our fellow citizens were extremely impatient to see how it would work, and we were waiting for all the bins to be distributed. We are very satisfied, we started emptying the bins from Monday, it was beyond our expectations, 90% of our fellow citizens took out their blue bins on the exactly agreed week and day, and what is the biggest surprise to us is that 98% of the waste that is separated into the blue bins is clean. This means that they followed exactly the instructions they received through the flyer as to which type of waste they should separate into the blue bin, which means which type of plastic, paper, cardboard and metal. Our biggest goal is that all that amount of waste will not end up permanently disposed of in the landfill, nor in rivers, nor in fields. We ourselves know how important it is to recycle, to reuse the raw materials and how important it is to fill the Regional Landfill as little as possible. Fellow citizens who have not yet come to collect their bins, we remind them in this way. Come and get your bin, you will see when you start using it how much it will reduce the amount of this mixed municipal waste and facilitate the disposal of waste."
The Project for Household Waste Separation - "Odvajamo" runs in 17 municipalities in Serbia, which will improve their waste management system through this project, and through the investments of the European Union, the Embassy of Sweden and the Ministry of Environmental Protection, 26 waste collection vehicles, over 90,000 bins and containers, as well as public opinion research and public information campaigns were supplied. The communication campaign and technical support for the Household Waste Separation Project is carried out by Pomilio Blum, in cooperation with the local partner New Moment New Ideas Company.