A street campaign to increase the collected glass packaging waste was held in Novi Travnik last Saturday.

The action was organized by JKP "Vilenica-Čistoća" d.o.o. Novi Travnik and Ekopak within the regional project "Management of glass packaging in the Western Balkans".

Thus, the residents of this city were invited to bring and dispose of at least five used glass bottles and jars in a special container from 12:00 to 16:00 and in return they received symbolic prizes.

"Each of us, should find time, think about environmental issues and do something about it. It is important that people realize that we must not throw everything around. All this can be saved and used again", said Tanja Jukić from Novi Travnik. Fellow citizen Mande Janković adds that this is a culture that we have implanted or not.

"Our goal is to involve citizens in this activity and inform them that in the area of ​​Novi Travnik there are special bells/containers for glass packaging waste on 30 locations," said Svjetlana Tokalić, director of JKP "Vilenica čistoća", which is the organizer of this action in cooperation with Ekopak.

According to her, in this way, citizens were given the opportunity to actively participate in reducing environmental pollution. "We are a pilot municipality, among only four municipalities from BiH and that is a compliment to all of us" Tokalic added. It is estimated that only the Municipality of Novi Travnik could collect about 10 tons of glass packaging per year.

About project:

The German Organization for International Cooperation (GIZ) and the National Alliance for Local Economic Development "Naled" from Serbia in cooperation with operators of the packaging waste management system "Ekopak" (BiH), "Sekopak" (Serbia), "Pakomak" (N. Macedonia) ) and the Association for Economic Development of Herzegovina REDAH and the Association of Local Self-Government Units ZELS, launched a regional project "Management of glass packaging in the Western Balkans." The project envisages the establishment of a basis for more cost-effective glass recycling by placing containers for the disposal of glass packaging waste in selected local municipalities, in urban and rural areas as well as in catering facilities, in order to increase the collected glass packaging. The project will be accompanied by an educational campaign intended for all citizens and institutions. The project will be implemented in Bihać, Novi Travnik (BiH), Ilidža and Konjic, Niš and Sombor (Serbia), Štip and Ilinden (Northern Macedonia), and one of the goals is to increase the collection rate of glass packaging in these municipalities.