Regional waste management system Duboko, adjacent to the city of Užice in Serbia’s west, got backed up by a recycling centre and transfer station in nearby Čačak. The facilities worth EUR 1 million were opened by Stana Božović, state secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection. She said the project helps financial sustainability of the area’s scheme for collection, management and separation of waste.
The region covered by Duboko has a rate of recycling of 5% and the plan is to lift it to 50% by 2028, Božović pointed out and added Sweden supports Serbia’s progress towards the European Union with EUR 10 million, where EUR 3 million is granted for environmental protection. The transfer station is one of the projects in the programme of the Nordic country’s embassy, its head of development cooperation Torgny Svenungsson stated. Vojislav Ilić, mayor of Čačak, said implementation was helped by international organization IMG.
The endeavour was financed by Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) with EUR 762,000, while the City of Čačak provided EUR 200,000 and public utility Duboko added EUR 24,000. Božović said eight regional landfills were established out of 26 that are planned and that Serbia produced 2.5 million tonnes of waste per year. In her words, the funds for the expansion and stabilization of the landfill of EUR 4.5 million are almost secured. The first phase will be financed by SIDA with EUR 2.5 million and the works should be launched by mid-year. The rest was pledged by the government and the ministry.
