Kumanovo launches pilot project for plastic and can separation in Zelen Rid

A pilot project to separate plastic waste and aluminum cans has begun in Kumanovo. Around 200 households in the Zelen Rid neighbourhood received free bins for sorting recyclable items; a collective waste operator will collect the sorted material from homes every two weeks.

Why the initiative was launched

The initiative aims to have household waste separated at source to improve subsequent collection and recycling, reduce volumes sent to landfills and promote circular-economy practices among residents.

The project is led by the Municipality of Kumanovo’s Department for Environmental Protection in cooperation with the municipal enterprise Public Enterprise "Chistota i zelenilo", the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning, the Center for Climate Change and the local company Uno Produkt – Kumanovo.

"Today we are on Mirche Acev Street where we will donate 200 plastic bins for the selection of water and juice bottles, colored and uncolored plastic and aluminum cans from juice, beer and food and plastic bags. This is a pilot project, we start here, and we will cover the other streets in the neighbourhood and in other parts of the city where free bins will be distributed, in order to clean the city of PET packaging. We hope that ecological awareness among citizens will awaken and the project will be successful," said Sasho Tomic, director of Public Enterprise "Chistota i zelenilo".

"I want to call on citizens to use the bins they will be given exclusively for the selection of plastic and cans, so that mixing with municipal waste does not occur, for the establishment of the waste management system," said Aleksandra Protic, head of the Department for Environmental Protection at the Municipality of Kumanovo.

The Center for Climate Change noted that circular economy is one of the pillars of the Green Agenda and that primary household separation is essential to achieve it. The selection bins were donated by the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning.

Kumanovo is part of a wider project titled "Regional partnership for better implementation of the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans at local level", supported by the Government of Switzerland through the Civica Mobilitas programme. Officials from the municipal enterprise also said they will receive two garbage trucks, one water tanker and two street sweepers as part of a new municipal fleet supplied through a World Bank donation promoted in Skopje; the equipment is expected to raise hygiene levels in the city, which currently suffer from an ageing vehicle fleet and strained finances.

S. Nikolic

Photo: СДК.МК)