REC BiH to implement project for preparation of waste management plans in 3 FBiH cantons

The Regional Environmental Center (REC) Country Office for Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) will implement the project Preparation of Cantonal Waste Management Plans in three Cantons: Herzegovina-Neretva, West-Herzegovina, and Herzeg-Bosnia Cantons, with the financial support of the Environmental Protection Fund of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH).

The REC will receive BAM 90,000 (around EUR 46,000) from the Environmental Protection Fund of the FBiH, the Fund said in its decision.

The general objective of the project is to improve the waste management situation in those cantons through the provision of conditions for safe collection and disposal of waste, processing of waste for recycling, separation of raw materials and their use for energy production, the REC said on its website.

The development of a waste management plan is a legally binding obligation of each Canton in the FBiH. These plans will provide an overview of economic and investment requirements as well as ways to finance a waste management system including the collection and treatment of waste. The plans will also define the prerequisites for a sustainable integrated waste management system for a period of 5 years.

According to the REC, the project should enhance the partnership between the various stakeholders and should raise public awareness of waste management issues and better waste management through the involvement of the public in the process of preparing these plans.

The territory of these three cantons constitutes a precious ecoregion with many endemic and endangered species.

The average waste generation in BiH is 0,89 kg/cap/day. Regarding waste composition, organic waste amounts to about 50% (municipal average) and dry recyclables (plastic, glass, paper, metals, aluminum cans, PET) around 30% of the total waste.

This percentage is lower in rural municipalities and higher in the urban cantons. Currently, in BiH there are: 6 active regional sanitary landfills that serve 36 municipalities (out of 141 + Brcko District) and 2 under construction that will serve 6 more municipalities, 93 noncompliant municipal landfills, 12,000 wild dumps, 5 sorting lines, and no other options for waste treatment are available in the country, the REC said.