First to remove waste, then to bring investors - Waste management would save Serbia EUR 120 million per year

(Stana Bozovic) Industrial waste management would save Serbia EUR 120 million a year. This means that the pollution problem must be solved before investors become able to open the doors of our companies and start hiring our fellow citizens, it was said at the conference "Environment: Challenge and Opportunity for Development of Serbia", which was held by the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection and the Regional Environmental Center (REC) for central and eastern Europe, the Ministry announced in a release.
An example of the country's responsible position towards this issue is the removal of 750 tonnes of hazardous waste in Baric near Obrenovac to make it possible for a Chinese investor to invest and open a new factory there. The plan is employ 2,500 people under this project.
- Serbia currently treats only 5% of all wastewater. The goal set for us is to treat 100% of wastewater before it returns to a watercourse - said State Secretary Stana Bozovic.
She pointed out that Serbia had only few regional waste management systems - in Uzice, Jagodina, Leskovac, Pirot, Kikinda and Subotica, while waste in other cities and municipalities is managed in an unsanitary way.
Establishment of environmental standards should cost Serbia EUR 10 billion, between 4 and 5 billion euros of which would be spent on large infrastructure projects related to waste and wastewater management. This means that the Serbian government must invest EUR 250 million a year on average in environmental protection projects.
The Republic of Serbia can also count on maximum 30% of these required funds to be provided from the structural funds of the European Union, that is, between 1.2 and 1.5 billion euros, Bozovic added. The rest of the money should be provided from public resources, primarily ecological taxes and environmental protection fees, long-term loans and through public private partnerships.
State Secretary Bozovic concluded that it was necessary to form the Green Fund.

Ministarstvo poljoprivrede, šumarstva i vodoprivrede Republike Srbije

Vlada Republike Srbije

Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection

Regional Environmental Center for central and eastern Europe

REC

Baric

Stana Bozovic

regional waste management systems

waste management

waste

Serbian government

EU funds

eco taxes

loans

public private partnerships

Green Fund

industrial waste management

pollution