Photo: Gradska Čistoća
Gradska Čistoća, the public waste management utility for the Serbian capital Belgrade, a city of 1.7 million, will be in charge of waste separation in the period ahead, however, the plans for waste separation and recycling hinge on progress in the public-private partnership (PPP) project with a consortium of France’s Suez and Japan’s Itochu to remediate the Vinča landfill, according to Deputy Mayor Goran Vesić.
Vesić was speaking at an event promoting 22 new vehicles procured for RSD 370 million (about EUR 3.12 million) for Gradska Čistoća, which he said will help increase the efficiency of the company’s operations and improve traffic flow in the capital. This will be made possible by GPS devices that both dumpsters and garbage trucks will get in 2019, in what will enable drivers to know which dumpsters are full and halt their vehicles accordingly, said Vesić, according to a statement on the City of Belgrade’s website.
In 2019, Gradska Čistoća’s budget will be boosted by about EUR 3 million and the city will also finance the procurement of an additional 25 street washing trucks and 30 garbage trucks, according to the deputy mayor. The utility currently has around 650 various vehicles and about 2,850 employees.
Belgrade’s waste management plan envisages the construction of 17 recycling yards, one for each municipality, though this is also linked to the Vinča landfill rehabilitation, according to Vesić.
“It is currently not possible to say precisely when the undertaking will be completed, but it is something expected in the years ahead,” Vesić said.
Once the recycling system is in place, it will involve source separation, and to motivate citizens, recycling bags will come with barcodes that will be scanned by devices in collection trucks, based on which utility bills will go down for those who recycle, according to him.
Largest-ever PPP project in Serbia
The City of Belgrade will “do its part” within legal deadlines to enable launching construction by the spring of 2019 under the EUR 333 million PPP project to remediate the Vinča landfill – Serbia’s biggest environmental problem – and build modern waste management facilities, Vesić said earlier.
The private partner in the largest-ever PPP in Serbia is a joint venture of France’s Suez Groupe and I-Environment Investments, a subsidiary of Japan’s Itochu.
The 25-year PPP project, signed in late September 2017, will allow for closing and remediating one of the largest landfills still active in Europe and generating over 80 MW of renewable heat and electricity with a 340,000 tons p.a. waste-to-energy plant.
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