Thanks to the economic entities that transferred their legal obligations under the Regulation on Packaging and Packaging Waste Management to Ekopak, a ceremonial handover of two special vehicles worth 340 thousand KM to the JKP “Komunalac” company from Kladanj was held today.
Through the project “Strengthening the technical capacities of the utility company PUC “Komunalac” Kladanj”, around 460 thousand KM has been invested so far: in the purchase of trucks, the establishment of eco-islands, the purchase of bins for selective disposal of packaging waste in all schools and public institutions, the remediation of illegal landfills and other activities.
In addition to Ekopak, the project was co-financed by the Embassy of Japan, the Federal Ministry of Environment and Tourism, the Ministry of Physical Planning and Environmental Protection of the Tuzla Canton, the FBiH Environmental Protection Fund, and the Municipality of Kladanj.
The municipality of Kladanj is among the first municipalities in the Tuzla Canton to join the Green Dot System that Ekopak is successfully developing in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. “By purchasing containers, establishing eco-islands and sets of bins for all institutions and schools, Ekopak has enabled the citizens of Kladanj to separately dispose of packaging waste, and the most important thing is that these capacities are not promotional in nature, but have their own function, because the packaging waste that PUC “Komunalac” regularly collects and prepares for transport for recycling, Ekopak ensures that it actually ends up in recycling. This year, as the authorized system operator, we will show the quantities that the citizens of Kladanj have collected and that have ended up in recycling through our reports that we are obliged to submit to the Federal Ministry of Environment and Tourism,” said Amela Hrbat, director of Ekopak.
The vehicle handover ceremony was attended by the Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy of Japan in BiH, Kazumasa Miyazaki, who emphasized on this occasion that environmental protection projects are at the top of the list of priorities when it comes to the assistance provided by the Government of Japan to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“Thanks to this project, the entire area of the Kladanj municipality will be covered by organized garbage collection and disposal. In the coming period, our goal is to establish a larger number of eco-islands for selective collection of packaging waste in our local community, as well as to establish a recycling yard,” said Jusuf Čavkunović, Mayor of the Kladanj Municipality.
The Director of the Environmental Protection Fund of the Federation of BiH emphasized that the Municipality of Kladanj has made a major step forward in terms of waste management by implementing this project.
Ekopak has also conducted educational activities in schools, and according to the citizens of Kladanj, Ekopak will continue to work on raising awareness about the importance of recycling and utilizing packaging waste.
Ekopak calls on all economic entities to transfer their legal obligations under the Regulation on Packaging and Packaging Waste Management (Official Gazette of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina No. 88/11 and Official Gazette of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina No. 28/13) to Ekopak and enable the development of a long-term, efficient, transparent and sustainable Green Dot System for the recycling and utilization of packaging waste in our country at the lowest sustainable costs.
