Coming soon to Sarajevo Canton: Green Dots – underground eco-islands for separate disposal and recycling of packaging waste.
Today, a ceremonial signing of the contract was held in the Sarajevo Canton Government building on the occasion of the implementation of the pilot project “Development of primary selection of packaging waste from municipal solid waste in Sarajevo Canton”. The project will be implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of Communal Economy and Infrastructure of Sarajevo Canton, KJKP “Rad” Sarajevo and the first authorized operator of the Ekopak system, at the initiative of the Prime Minister of Sarajevo Canton Elmedin Konaković, Minister of Communal Economy and Infrastructure Senad Hasanspahić and Member of the Assembly of Sarajevo Canton Elvedin Okerić.
In the first phase of the project, the construction and installation of 5 underground eco-islands is planned, i.e. sets of 4 underground containers each for paper, plastic, glass and general waste, in order to enable the citizens of the Sarajevo Canton to separately dispose of packaging waste. By signing the contract today, Ekopak has committed to purchasing these containers, and KJKP “Rad” Sarajevo to install them and empty them regularly, while all three partners will work together to promote the project and raise awareness among citizens about the importance of separate disposal and recycling of packaging waste, i.e. about introducing a new approach to waste management, which has been developing in all EU countries, as well as the region, for the past 20 years.
The project also plans to provide Sarajevo Canton with 50 eco-islands in the next phases, as well as two special vehicles for their emptying.
The signing of the contract was attended by the Prime Minister of Sarajevo Canton Elmedin Konaković, the Minister of Communal Economy and Infrastructure of Sarajevo Canton Senad Hasanspahić, the Director of KJKP “Rad” Selim Babić, and the Director of Ekopak Amela Hrbat.
“With this, we are solving several problems, the first primary one is adequate waste disposal in the very center of the city, the second is that a large number of stray dogs gather on the bags in which waste is disposed of, and the third is the arrangement and taking care of this extremely important area of life,” emphasized Prime Minister Konaković and expressed expectations that in the coming period, a large number of such containers for selective waste disposal, or ” Green Dots “, as they are symbolically called, will be found on our streets .
“This contract plans to procure 20 underground containers for the establishment of five eco-islands in the municipalities of Novi Grad and Centar, namely five yellow ones for plastic, metal and multilayer materials, five blue ones for paper, five green ones for glass and five black ones for mixed municipal waste,” explained Minister Hasanspahić after the signing and announced the inclusion of all other municipalities in the Canton of Sarajevo in its later implementation.
“Rad will finance construction works aimed at arranging locations for the installation of eco-islands, and ensuring regular emptying of container sets, while the company ‘Ekopak’ will allocate 50,000 KM for the purchase of underground containers,” explained Babić.
“After 14 municipalities across the Federation of BiH in which Ekopak has successfully developed a transparent, long-term and efficient Green Dot System for the recovery and recycling of packaging waste, according to the best European experiences, it is a great pleasure and success to start these activities in the Sarajevo Canton. Therefore, we would like to express our gratitude to Prime Minister Konaković, Minister Hasanspahić and the member of the Cantonal Assembly, Mr. Okerić, who, above all, recognized the importance of developing the environmental protection segment, including waste management, and who are striving to establish the Sarajevo Canton as a modern, pleasant environment for living, and who have recognized in Ekopak a partner with whom they will successfully implement these activities,” said Ekopak Director Amela Hrbat.
