Three local authorities in Serbia considering waste-to-energy project

Milano-based Comef presented its waste-to-energy solutions to officials from the Serbian municipalities of Vrnjačka Banja and Trstenik and the City of Kraljevo.

Serbia already has one combined heat and power plant using waste. It is an incinerator in Vinča on the outskirts of the capital city of Belgrade. Production began in February 2023.

The three local authorities said the meeting with the representatives of Italy-based company Comef regarding the possibility of the construction of a regional waste treatment plant was held on the premises of the Municipality of Vrnjačka Banja.

It was attended by municipality chief Boban Đurović, energy manager Gordana Radičević, director of the municipal waste utility Banjsko Zelenilo i Čistoća Momčilo Krstić and officials from the City of Kraljevo and the Municipality of Trstenik.

The Italian company installs facilities that transform waste to energy

In its home market and abroad, the Italian company designs, builds and installs renewable energy plants, the local authorities said. Such systems reduce energy consumption and harmful gas emissions and limit negative impacts on the environment while maintaining a high level of energy efficiency, the announcement reads.

Comef’s facilities transform waste into heat and electricity, the press release adds. The company presented models of cooperation regarding a potential joint project for all three municipal authorities, signatories to a municipal waste management agreement, the statement reveals.

Local officials said the implementation of a such regional project would permanently solve the municipal waste disposal issue and enable increasing the power generation capacity or the introduction of district heating and cooling systems for households and institutions or the industry.

The first step is to analyze the structure and amount of waste disposed on the territory of the three municipal units and secure a guarantee from the state.

The construction of the facility would last two years, the municipality said.

The three municipal units have signed an agreement on municipal waste management

The signatories of the said waste management deal, from 2014, were the Ministry of Agriculture and the local authorities in Kraljevo, Paraćin, Vrnjačka Banja, and Trstenik as founders of a new waste management region.

At the time, they said they would develop a regional waste management plan in line with the national strategy. They were supposed to first produce a feasibility study for the Ministry of Environmental Protection to approve.