According to the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, during 2021 the domestic economy created 69.6 million tons of waste. In total, 64.5 million tons of waste had been treated, whilst 16.7% more waste had been treated compared to the previous year.
When it comes to the generated amounts of waste, divided by sectors, even when compared to the previous year, the following changes were recorded in 2021:
– Agriculture, forestry and fishing – increase of 41.6%,
– Mining – increase of 30.2%,
– Manufacturing – increase of 2.7%,
– Supply of electricity, gas and steam – decrease of 8.1%,
– Supply of water and wastewater management – decrease of 5.1%,
– Construction – decrease of 19.0%, and service industry sectors – decrease of 11.4%.
In Serbia, during 2022, 134 of unsanitary and 2690 illegal landfills had been reported.
Landfills and garbage dumps are facilities which can have a particularly significant negative impact on environment. They can have a direct impact on air, ground and surface waters, soil and a negative noise impact.
There are currently ten regional landfills in our country. They are located in Uzice, Lapovo, Kikinda, Jagodina, Leskovac, Pirot, Sremska Mitrovica, Pancevo, Subotica and Belgrade. In support of the fact that this number is insufficient for all the waste that is generated, the fact that the construction of several new regional landfills is planned also speaks for itself.
As part of the ”Clean Serbia” Project, the construction of regional landfill centres in Kragujevac, Kraljevo and Nis as well as the expansion of the already existing landfill in Pancevo will be financed.
The construction of a plant for the production of electricity and thermal energy from non-recyclable waste in NIS and KRAGUJEVAC will, apart from adequatly addressing the problem of solid municipal waste in these particular areas, also address the problem of waste outside the recycling process from the landfills in: Krusevac, Vranje, Leskovac, Pirot(NIS) and regional landfills: Kraljevo, Pozarevac and Jagodina (Kragujevac). The amount planned for this kind of treatment is 250 tons a day per plant. This way, a significant amount of electricity and thermal energy will be generated. This program will completely address the issue of these geographical zones.
Sanja Knezevic Mitrovic, manager of regulatory reform at NALED says that in the following period, through the „Solid Waste in Serbia Program“ financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the French Development Agency (AFD), the construction of new regional centres for waste management is planned“. This includes the landfills Kalenic in ub, Banjica in Nova Varos, Srem-Macva in Sremska Mitrovica and Rancevo in Sombor, while for the already existing regioncal centres, Duboko near Uzice and Pirot, an upgrade is planned. Regional waste management centre in Raska is in the preparatory phase of formation. The value of this project is 150 million Euros, and NALED will offer technical support to the Ministry of Environmental Protection which is in charge of managing the project“ Sanja Knezevic Mitrovic stated.