Construction of several waste incineration plants planned – Companies from Middle East to incinerate medical and pharmaceutical waste, paints and varnishes

Waste management industry is one of the fastest growing industries in EU and there is an interest to invest in this field in Serbia too.

– There are several investors that began the procedure for construction of incineration plants. The investors are big companies, some even from Middle East that will incinerate medical and pharmaceutical waste, paints and varnishes. Currently Serbia lacks capacity for such an enterprise so we often end up exporting the waste to other countries, Filip Radovic, the director of Serbian Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) told Tanjug.

He added that “we were so close to realizing these projects, they have already begun in some places which is very important and a huge step forward.”

He reminded that great issues concerning location for these projects often arise, because the local population is concerned over the reason the incineration plant is built in their area.

– It is important for them to know that before any sort of waste treatment facility is built, according to the current regulations the project goes through a procedure involving preparing a study analyzing their effect on the environment. The procedure clearly determines that the the facility has to built in such a was so as not to endanger the environment, Radovic said and added that those facilities would also bring new jobs.

He stressed the importance of the waste treatment facilities for Serbia because it will insure the waste didn't end up on a farm land somewhere from which the food for our children came.

– Toxic waste is a good business and also the reason why many unscrupulous individuals abuse it, he said regarding the toxic waste barrels that were dug up on the grounds of MG Serbien plant in Baljevac near Raska.

According to Radovic, due to the lack of capacity for the toxic waste treatment, the waste is piling up all around Serbia and then “some unscrupulous individuals show up promising to take care of it, bring the certificate of job completion but in fact they bury the toxic waste somewhere and put the local community in danger.”

– There is an obligation to treat waste in a proper manner, “meaning it has to be either incinerated or exported into countries who do such treatments”, said Radovic and added that this case showed that it was important to invest in new toxic waste treatment facilities in Serbia

Agencija za zaštitu životne sredine Beograd

MG Serbian - Bela Stena Baljevac

Filip Radovic

toxic waste

toxic waste treatment

toxic waste incineration plants

medical waste incineration

pharmaceutical waste incineration

paints and varnishes incineration