The Recycling Capacities in Serbia are Νot on a Level Worth Praising

The recycling capacities in Serbia are not on a level worth praising, but the policy of the government is to increase them. According to experts the number of companies that work in the recycling field has grown over the past ten years, and they are recycling 10-15% of the overall waste.

As part of the long term goals that Serbia needs to achieve on its path to the EU, the strategy for waste management envisages that in the period 2015-2019 the degree of utilization and recycling of the packaging made of glass, paper, cardboard, metal and plastic is to be increased to 25%. Europe is recycling three times as much waste as Serbia, and in some part of the world the rate of recycling is up to 80%. Since 2009 to this day the line ministry has issued around 1,300 permits for waste management, of which 20% are the integral permits for the recycling plants, while the rest are the permits for the collection and transportation of the dangerous and non-dangerous waste in our territory. In order to get closer to other EU members it is necessary to issue certificates, i.e. bring all the ecology standards closer, thus being able guarantee the services to this industry and take it to a higher level. In the previous period the state has stimulated the green and recycling industry by issuing permits and subsidies, but the waste management requires investments in the technology, proper management and integrated system of control and supervision of waste flows.

To keep pace with how the countries of the region and the EU are dealing with this issue, it is necessary to revise the permit procedures and bust the supervision, both by the financial police and environmental inspections. Therefore the line ministry aims to create the conditions and lay foundation for a significant improvement of the waste management system through the legislation changes. After 2020 we will have to adequately deal with all the waste generated in the Serbian territory, which means the cross-border transport will not be allowed. It is our duty to build the plants for the physical and chemical treatment of the dangerous waste, as well as the industrial inorganic waste. The construction of such facility is expensive, but it will decrease the risks to the living environment and human health. Besides, Serbia is one of the rare countries that does not have a dump for the industrial waste reports Radio Srbija

(Balkans.com)