Duboko landfill near Uzice put in operation - Construction of municipal waste power plant to start soon

Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia Vincent Degert and Minister of Environment, Mining and Spatial Planning Oliver Dulic ceremoniously put the Regional Sanitary Landfill Duboko in Uzice in operation on Wednesday (October 19, 2011).

This landfill, the first of the kind in Serbia, is built in accordance with the Waste Management Strategy for two cities and seven municipalities in the Zlatibor and Moravica regions where 372,000 people live, and in line with the directives and standards of the European Union.

Duboko landfill complex, spanning 15 hectares, has the capacity of 250 tonnes of waste per day and comprises a Secondary Waste Selection Center, of which capacity is 90,000 tonnes of waste per year.

On the occasion of the opening of this landfill, Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia Vincent Degert called it an example of regional cooperation, application of European standards, and the EU's solidarity with the Zlatibor region and the efforts that local self-governments put into environment protection.

Dulic stressed that 8,000 people in Serbia were working in the fields of waste management and renewable energy sources at the moment, adding that that number was expected to reach 10,000 until mid-2012.

Works on the landfill commenced in 2008, and this EUR 15.32 million investment was co-financed by Cacak, Uzice and seven municipalities in this area, and the funds were also provided by the Regional Environment Protection Fund, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which granted a loan, and the National Investment Plan (NIP), as well as from donations of the Swedish International Development and Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the Government of France, and the European Union.

The completion of the Regional Sanitary Landfill Duboko has created conditions for reliable and safe collecting and disposal of municipal waste, overall enhancement of solid waste management and significant improvement of environment in the region.

Duboko landfill is one of over 14 projects, worth a total of EUR 65 million, which have been implemented over the last six years in Serbia and financed by the EU through the Municipal Infrastructure Support Programme (MISP) especially focusing on economic and environmental projects.

Duboko landfill will also comprise the first power plant using municipal waste to generate electricity, which will be built in association with the Electric Power Company of Serbia (EPS) and foreign investors interested in investing in renewable energy sources.