Public debate on Belgrade’s waste incinerator, new landfill to be held on July 23

A public debate on two environmental impact assessments (EIA) for a project to build a waste-to-energy facility and a new landfill at the Belgrade suburb of Vinča, prepared by Beo Čista Energija, will be held on July 23 on the premises of the municipal administration of Grocka.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection has announced that Beo Čista Energija has submitted the environmental impact assessments for the project to build the Vinča waste-to-energy facility, which would incinerate municipal waste and use landfill gas, and for the project to build a new landfill in Vinča.

The EIAs can be examined by July 18 in the Ministry’s office, on 1 Omladinskih Brigada St., as well as in the office of the Grocka municipal administration and on the Ministry’s website.

On July 23, starting at 10 am, the public debate and a presentation of the EIAs will be held in the offices of the Grocka municipal administration, the Ministry said on its website.

According to the EIA for the project to build the Vinča waste-to-energy facility, the facility will be built at the existing Vinča landfill, with the direct incineration of municipal waste envisaged.

The preparation of EIAs has been controversial. In January, following a complaint filed by the Ne Davimo Beograd initiative, the Government of Serbia annulled the Ministry’s decision determining the scope and contents of the EIA for the project to build the waste incinerator.

Marguerite Waste Serbia new shareholder

Beo Čista Energija is a joint venture between France’s Suez Groupe, I-Environment Investments, a subsidiary of Japan’s Itochu, and Luxembourg-based Marguerite Waste Serbia. Originally, Suez Groupe and I-Environment Investments held 50% each, but they later sold 10% each to Marguerite Waste Serbia.

In September 2017, the City of Belgrade and the Suez-Itochu consortium signed an agreement on a 25-year public-private partnership (PPP) for the closure and remediation of the Vinča landfill and the construction of a waste-to-energy cogeneration facility to produce heat and electricity.