The Case for Zero waste

In October 2013 began the implementation of a two-year cross-border IPA project Croatia-Serbia titled “Creating a society without waste”. The project is worth  676,170.24 €. For the implementation of project activities, 324,203.00 € was allocated to partners from Serbia, and 351,967.24 € to Croatian partners. The project leader is Unikom d.o.o. from Osijek, while the partners are JKP „Komunalije“  Sremska Mitrovica, Regional Development Agency of Slavonia and Baranja, the Association for the Protection of Nature and Green Osijek, City of Sremska Mitrovica, the Ecological Club of the City of Sremska Mitrovica and the Centre for Ecology and Sustainable Development from Subotica.

The project aims to contribute to environmental protection and sustainable development in the border regions, through the exchange of experience and joint activities in the field of waste management, as well as increasing the amount of separately collected waste through the development of collection systems and waste management.

Partners from Osijek will convey their knowledge to participants of a composting training course in Sremska Mitrovica, which will educate pre-school, primary school children and adults about the importance of selective waste collection, the process of composting and the use of composters. Conference about waste will be held in Osijek, and an International Forum on Waste Management will be established as a collaboration of experts from Croatia and Serbia.

The project partners will develop and distribute educational materials to the citizens of Osijek and Sremska Mitrovica. As part of the project UNIKOM will purchase 1,300 yellow bins to collect plastic, and 80 bins for 20 mini recycling islands, and Komunalije  will purchase 32 recycling islands with 3 large bins for selective waste collection and 1000 composter.

Within the existing recycling yard at the site Jug II will build an eco-park in order to establish an educational center for the implementation of educational workshops on primary selection of waste for students and citizens. The formation of the eco-park will follow Facebook campaign under the name “From plastics to forests” within which will be recorded amounts of the collected plastic packaging, and for a certain amount of collected plastic waste a tree will be planted in the eco-park.

It is also planning to celebrate Earth Day and World Environment Day organizing events for the pre-school and primary school children, as well as high school students. The children will compete in educational games and have the opportunity to win valuable prizes.

 This project is funded by the European Union

11-03-2016