New milestone in waste management regulation of BIH Federation

The government of the Bosnia-Herzegovina Federation adopted draft amendments to the Law on Waste Management which define special categories of waste which are harmful to the environment and health of the population. The government said the draft amendments were introduced to regulate the management of those waste categories because of their effect on the environment and the amounts generated.

The special waste categories cover packaging waste, waste oil, batteries, old vehicles, tires, electronic and electrical waste, asbestos and PCB, waste generated in the production of titandioxide, medical, animal and construction industry waste.

The government said that regulations had to be introduced for the management of those types of waste from the place they are generated, over the manner of their collection, transport, treatment and disposal.

The amendments include the definition “product manufacturer and importer” of products which become waste and “system operator” companies for the recycling and use of special categories of waste. System operators can be set up only by companies which sell products which later fall into the special waste categories.

Manufacturers and importers of those products are also accountable for the protection of the environment from the waste of their productions and the law regulates the fees for those waste categories which are paid to the Environmental Protection Fund of the BiH Federation, except for those categories for which system operators have been set up.

The changes to the law on waste management include an information system on all types of waste, infrastructure and companies managing waste. That system is under the jurisdiction of the Environmental Protection Fund.

Waste management in the BiH Federation is also regulated by the Federal Waste Management Action Plan which defines the strategic goals as lowering the risks to the environment and health of the population, construction of priority infrastructure for integrated waste management, decreasing the amounts of waste for final disposal with efficient use of resources, the functioning of a waste management system in legal, institutional and economic frameworks and the systemic monitoring of parameters used to evaluate the state of the environment.