About 1,100 illegal landfills in BiH, citizens want incinerators, but 'not in their backyard'

FENA Nina Maslo, Photo:

MOSTAR, May 22 (FENA) - According to estimates, there are about 1,100 illegal dumps in BiH, although 10 to 15 percent have been closed across the country recently, while there are about 340 illegal dumps in the Federation of BiH.

They can most often be seen in forests, along rivers and along road edges, and everything is stored on them, from household appliances, furniture, animal remains to construction materials.

“The problem of solving illegal landfills will be solved when selective separation of waste is introduced, in the entire territory of BiH, then by building regional waste management centers, and intensified work of inspection bodies,” the FBiH Ministry of Environment and Tourism (FMOIT) told FENA.

The main challenge facing the current waste management system is the significant number of residents living in rural areas without waste collection services, which inevitably leads to uncontrolled waste disposal and an increase in the number of illegal landfills.

Municipal utility companies also have their own landfills, which are mostly "dumps" that do not meet most of the basic environmental criteria.

In addition, the Federation of BiH has not yet developed waste classification by category as in other European countries, and municipal administrations responsible for the municipal waste sector do not have the resources needed to manage modern and increasingly complex systems.

The amount of containers for special waste categories is insufficient as well.

“For now, only packaging, electronic and electrical waste is sorted. The experience we have in the Federation of BiH is based on limited projects. Of the total amount of packaging waste produced, the quantities obtained by the separate collection system are limited,” stated the Ministry.

Speaking about the possible construction of waste incinerators, the Ministry said that the construction of incinerators is a big problem in the Federation of BiH.

“Namely, in the Federation of BiH, there is an interest of citizens in the construction of incinerators, but according to the principle "not in my backyard". The incinerators will start construction when they are planned in the spatial planning documentation, find the location and verify it as a place for the incinerator and of course when it gets the consent of the local community, because BiH has acceded to the Aarhus Convention and the public must be involved in the project of building an incinerator,” said the FMOIT.

They say that in the last few years the public's interest in nature and environmental protection has been growing and that a good part of the citizens of the Federation of BiH have become acquainted with the concept of environmental awareness, but that work still needs to be done.