Sarajevo soon to get compost plant for green waste, new grinder presented

Presentation of a grinder which will be used to process plant waste from parks and other areas represents the first step in a project of compost plant construction in the Sarajevo Canton . The biomass produced at the compost plant in Sarajevo’s Sokolović Kolonija nursery will also be used to produce energy.

The project to build the compost plant is a joint project of the cantonal Ministries of Spatial Planning, Construction and Environmental Protection, and Communal Economy and Infrastructure with the cantonal public communal services company KJKP Park Sarajevo which owns the Sokolović Kolonija nursery.

Minister of Spatial Planning, Construction and Environmental Protection Čedomir Lukić said after the presentation that the grinder, which is worth 150,000 Convertible Marks (EUR (75,000) is just one of the machines required in the compost plant, adding that the cantonal government intends to secure all other necessary equipment.

He said the plant will help solve the problem of accumulated plant waste. “The compost plant will help cut down on that biodegradable waste which was taken to the Smiljevići landfill to date,” Lukić said.

According to the minister, the Park communal service company will pick up plant waste from private gardens in exchange for compost from the new plant.

Lukić said the compost plant will not be a place to take waste to but a place where biodegradable waste will be used to create a new resource.

Cantonal assembly Councilor Selma Filipović said she warned earlier that plant waste is dumped into garbage containers because people have no other place to put it. She said the construction of the compost plant is important because it will process 3,600 tons of plant waste a year.

KJKP Park CEO Alen Ramić said the processed plant waste will be used to heat the greenhouses at the Nedžarići nursery. He said the compost plant will have four mobile machines which will produce compost, humus and pellets.

Dispute over location

The construction of the compost plant ran into opposition from Senaid Memić the head of the Ilidža municipality where the Sokolović Kolonija is located. Memić claims that the nursery is in a water protection zone and that plant waste should not be brought there because of the risk of pollution to the water supply system.

Ramić rejected that claim, saying that the Canton needs the compost plant and that it has nothing to do with garbage.

The plant processes plant waste into compost, biodegradable fertilizer and poses no danger to the population. It produces no unpleasant smells nor does it pollute the environment and it’s not clear why Memić opposes its construction, Ramić said.

Minister Lukić said he would not abandon the construction of the compost plant in Sokolović Kolonija, adding that the money for the project was secured in 2016.