On April 19, the Project for Household Waste Separation "O-DVA-JA-MO", which is being implemented in 17 municipalities in Serbia, was presented for the second time at Dušan Jerković Square in Bajina Bašta.
The goal of the project is to recycle part of the waste generated in households in order to reduce the amount that ends up in landfills and increase the recycling rate in these municipalities to 15%.The "O-DVA-JA-MO" project is being implemented with the support of the Ministry of Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia with the assistance of the European Union and the Embassy of Sweden.
The project provides expertise and equipment for local authorities to establish and improve waste separation systems at the point of origin.With the investment of the European Union and the Government of the Republic of Serbia, 26 vehicles for the transport of recycling waste, more than 90,000 containers and bins and a public information campaign were provided.
The president of the municipality of Bajina Bašta, Vesna Đurić, addressed the audience and thanked the children and teachers of the kindergarten "Neven" as well as the volunteers for their contribution to environmental activities."The garbage truck that we see here is of great importance to us for collecting waste. With this project, we also received 3,800 blue bins that we use for dry waste selection and about 90 containers that we use around the city, they are divided into yellow and blue ones, which means that our fellow citizens here in the city separate glass into yellow containers and dry waste into blue containers. We will continue this cooperation and we will make our municipality and the city even cleaner and more beautiful than before because Bajina Bašta was the favorite in the selection of waste, until now it was in the first place, and when we start like this with the youngest from the kindergarten age, we will definitely remain on that place," said the president of the municipality, Mrs. Đurić.
On behalf of the European Union and the Swedish Agency for International Development and Cooperation (SIDA), Mr. John Glazebrook, program manager of the EISP2 project, addressed the gathered citizens of Bajina Bašta and congratulated them on the results achieved so far."Congratulations on the results, I heard that Bajina Bašta had recycled 70 tons since March." Well done, that's your work. Through this project, we are supporting 17 municipalities in Serbia to start recycling and we will continue with similar activities throughout Serbia. Since December, all municipalities have together prepared over a million kilograms of material for recycling. The only thing I have to say to you is to congratulate you, and we as "Team Europe" and the Ministry of Environmental Protection will continue to invest in such activities," underlined John Glazebrook in his address.
Jelena Aleksić from PUC "12. septembar" thanked all the citizens who are deserving of the praise that Bajina Bašta received."People are interested, they call, they come on their own, they ask for additional information, they are familiar with separation and recycling and the importance of all that for our city," said Mrs. Aleksić.Children from the pre-school institution "Neven" participated in the promotion of the project, singing, dancing and reciting on the topic of ecology and recycling, after which the guests saw an exhibition of children's works made of recyclable materials. Volunteers from the Youth Office distributed promotional material and flyers to the citizens.
The European Union financed this project with 6 million euros, and Serbian national and local authorities are participating in the project with an investment of 1.8 million euros. Technical support was provided by the Embassy of Sweden to support the national authorities and all 17 local self-governments in the successful implementation of the household waste separation project. Local governments and public utilities are fully responsible for providing new services.The Waste Management Program in Serbia 2022-2031, adopted by the Government of Serbia as part of the EU accession process, aims to improve the municipal waste management system through increased recycling rate, reduced disposal of biodegradable waste in landfills and reduced disposal of waste in unsanitary landfills.
Now everyone can separate waste fast and easily!