Visit to Banja Luka
It was good to have our mission to the Republika Srpska this month and to meet some of the key project stakeholders from there. It was also lovely to meet our local expert from Banja Luka, Dr Drazenko Bjelic.
We had a really good programme for the week-long visit and this included meetings with the Ministry of Environment where we met Mr Dusko Solomun and Mr Marko Gajic; we also met with representatives from the Chamber of Commerce of the Republika Srpska – Mrs Dragana Kokot and Mr Marko Savić. It was really good to hear all the excellent work being done by the Chamber in regard to the Circular Economy Agenda. We had a tour round their excellent conferencing facilities and we look forward to close co-operation with them throughout the CETAP project.
In addition to those meetings we also met with representatives - Aleksandar Bajić and Vladimir Ilić -of the Banja Luka Cistoca who are responsible for municipal waste management in the Banja Luka Municipal area. It was a really helpful meeting and provided us with a detailed insight into the role of the Cistoca in the context of waste management activities and the broader interest in Circular Economy.
We had a similarly fruitful meeting with Mr Ratko Jokić, Director, DE-POT Company who operate the regional landfill of Banja Luka.
We also had an excellent meeting with Mr Zoran Lukač who hosted the meeting at the offices of the Environment Protection Fund in Banja Luka. This was our first opportunity to discuss the project with him and to explain the importance of the role to be played by the Environment Protection Fund particularly in regard to the provision of data and also the proposed hosting of the new Waste Exchange Platform to be developed under the project.
Lastly, while in Banja Luka we managed to meet with Mrs Andela Laketic, EuroBeta who explained the role that EuroBeta play in the only Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Scheme in the Republika Srpska. She explained that the system in the Republika Srpska in terms of the EPR scheme was based on non-hazardous packaging waste only. She was really informative and we learned a lot about the operation of the EPR Scheme in the Republika Srpska.
Before we left the Republika Srpska we had a couple of more meetings to attend, firstly with Boris Malinovic, Director, Promal AB Company. Mr Malinovic informed the team that his company had facilities at Brcko District and also at Bijeljina where their focus was the recycling of paper & packaging waste. They have been doing this as a family business for 15 years now. They manage plastic waste and other packaging waste but are not within the EPR scheme.
CETAP Project: First Steering Committee Meeting Held in Sarajevo
The first Steering Committee meeting of the CETAP (Circular Economy and Waste Management Project) was held on November 19, 2024, in Sarajevo. The meeting brought together key institutional representatives to discuss the initial steps and strategic direction of the project.
During the meeting, participants reviewed the Draft Initial Report, addressing key challenges, planned activities, and next steps for project implementation in alignment with EU standards and circular economy principles. The discussions focused on the project’s roadmap for the coming months, ensuring a clear path forward for its successful execution.
Main topics discussed during the meeting included:
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Introductory remarks and project objectives overview
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Presentation of the Draft Initial Report
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Discussion on the project plan for the next three months
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Interactive Q&A session
The CETAP project continues to focus on improving waste management through separate collection, reuse, and recycling, with the ultimate goal of strengthening circular economy practices in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This project represents a significant step toward enhancing sustainability and reducing the environmental impact of waste.
We would like to extend our gratitude to all members of the Steering Committee for their valuable contributions to this crucial process. Together, we are working towards a more sustainable future for Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Project Team Leader in BiH Announced
E Scott Crossett was really delighted to be asked to take up the post of Team Leader on a new technical assistance project in Bosnia & Herzegovina. The project is a European Union funded through the IPA 2020 programme and entitled “Technical assistance for improved materials recovery from waste through separate collection, reuse and recycling based on circular economy principles”
The overall objective of the project action is to further align policies and regulations in area of waste management to achieve better protection of environment and facilitate sustainable development in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The specific objective of this contract area is to improve recovery of materials from waste through separate collections, reuse and recycling based on the principles of circular economy.
The expected outputs by the project team are:
- Output 1: A comprehensive set of legislation harmonized with the EU Waste Package is developed;
- Output 2: Policy frameworks developed that facilitate the transition towards a circular economy;
- Output 3: Feasible schemes for the collection and treatment of special categories of waste, based on circular economy principles, are defined.
The first mission to BiH was September and the team met with the Project Director Ion Nae Musetoiu from Romania. Ion, who is an expert on extended producer responsibility, s on leave from the Ministry of Environment in Bucharest to undertake this project, the team is looking forward to working with him.