Measure 1.1: Increasing productivity and competitiveness of economic, rural, cultural and natural resources of the programme area
Project Title: CLEAN – Citizens Learning Environmental Actions Needed
Project Budget:
| Project Value | EU Contribution | |
| Republic of Serbia | € 165,778.38 | € 137,048.99 |
| Montenegro | € 225,675.00 | € 191,815.00 |
| TOTAL | € 391,453.38 | € 328,863.99 |
Beneficiary of funds in the Republic of Serbia: Municipality of Novi Varoš
Partners:
• Municipality of Prijepolje
• Public Utility Company “3. Septembar”, Nova Varoš
• Public Utility Company “Lim”, Prijepolje
Beneficiary of funds in Montenegro: Municipality of Nikšić
Partners:
• Foundation for the Development of Northern Montenegro – FORS Montenegro
• Municipality of Pljevlja
• Municipality of Berane
• Public Utility Company “Komunalno Nikšić“, Nikšić
• Public Enterprise “Čistoća“, Pljevlja
• Public Enterprise “Komunalno”, Berane
Area of implementation:
• Montenegro: Municipalities of Nikšić, Pljevlja and Berane
• Serbia: Municipalities of Nova Varoš and Prijepolje
Project duration: 11/7/2012 – 10/6/2014
Project objectives: The overall objective of this project is to decrease negative effects of waste on human health and on environmental state in cross border zone in the target countries. The specific objective of the project are improved waste management in the cross-border area and 5 target municipalities through created conditions for separate waste collection and recycling, strengthened capacity of the Public Utility Companies and illegal garbage dumps cleaned up in the period of 20 months and raised level of awareness of the people in the cross-border area and 5 target municipalities about proper waste collection through media campaign and educational lectures in the period of 20 months.
Activities and results of the project
The Project CLEAN improved the technical capacity of public utility companies in partner municipalities in the cross-border project region: Specialized containers for selective waste disposal, standard containers for municipal and other waste, presses and related equipment for separation and baling of selectively collected waste, wood cutters, vacuums for public area cleaning, accessories for waste disposal in public area and other.
Capacity building in public utility companies and local self-government units was realized through two cross-border trainings on sustainable waste management, recycling and a study visit to the Waste Management Centre, CERO Gajke in Ptuj, Slovenia. Visiting participants were introduced to the best practices in waste management which are applied in the European Union.
In order to raise public environmental awareness, expert educational lectures on the need and importance of selective waste disposal and recycling were organised for citizens and primary school students from 1 to 4 grades. Continuous and diverse media campaign including billboards, T-shirts, canvas hand bags, notebooks, pens and other accessories with the message “Preserve the planet to save our homes” also contributed to raising of environmental awareness.
In addition to the above mentioned activities, the project included action plans for 5 target municipalities containing basic information about the state of the environment and a logical timeline of activities that needed to be implemented during the project and whose aim was to contribute to the improvement of environmental protection. Activities undertaken within the action plans included clearing of 33 wild dumps, 60 “green islands” with special containers for primary separation of waste (paper, plastic, glass and metal), the procurement of containers for communal waste in rural regions thus extending the scope of waste collection services to rural areas. Thanks to the equipment provided within the project CLEAN – namely corresponding presses for baling and forklifts, the public utility companies in Nova Varoš and Prijepolje opened recycling yards. In partner municipalities in Montenegro concrete bins for waste disposal were placed on defined locations in public areas, thus creating conditions for collecting various recyclable wastes. Hand grass mower, vacuum cleaner and wood cutters increased the efficiency of maintenance and landscaping of public green areas and use of green materials in ecologically sustainable manner.
The final outcome of the project CLEAN is to raise the knowledge of citizens, employed in public utility companies and local self-governments in the field of environmental protection and to establish a system of primary separation of recyclable types of waste, to reduce the amount of municipal and biodegradable waste which ends up in municipal landfills, with more accountable attitude of all stakeholders in the process of waste management. By changing the way of thinking and working in the this field , public utility companies made significant savings by reducing the amount of waste and raising the level of quality of work among employees.
Due to the project CLEAN, local self-governments and public utility companies established a basis for future sustainable implementation of municipal waste management plans, as one of the segments of environmental protection. The attitude of citizens towards the environment and their involvement in the process of waste management and communal hygiene is visible at every step. The results of the final survey are clear: The level of awareness on the need for selective collection of waste is increased by more than 15%. The success of the project CLEAN is also visible through new initiatives coming from citizens, students, various associations and also public utility companies and municipal services, building on the achievements of the project CLEAN.
STATEMENTS:
Suzana Šuljagić, Director of Public Utility Company “3. Septembar“, Nova Varoš
“With the successful implementation of the project CLEAN, Public Utility Company “3. Septembar” form Nova Varoš tried, and hopefully succeeded, to position itself as an eligible partner in the implementation of this and future similar projects.
Benefits are numerous and reflected in:
• Easier collection and separation of recyclable waste,
• Reduced amount of waste that is disposed on a common dump of municipalities of Priboj and Nova Varoš, resulting in the extension of time of use of the mentioned location for waste disposal and significant savings of fuel that would have been spent in our trucks for waste and the extension of lifetime of the machinery engaged in these activities,
• Financial benefit from the sale of collected and separated recyclable waste,
• Positive impact on the environment in the cross-border region,
• Raising the citizens’ awareness and knowledge of the importance of disposal and separation of recyclable waste,
• Due to the knowledge and experience gained during the implementation of the project CLEAN, our company took part in the competition and successfully implemented other projects which have directly contributed to the finalization of activities related to the establishment of the Recycling Centre in Nova Varoš, as one of the activities defined by the Regional Waste Management Plan for the municipalities of Nova Varoš, Priboj, Prijepolje and Sjenica. EU PROGRESS Programme approved and our company successfully implemented the procurement of some equipment for the Recycling Centre that is compatible with the equipment installed from the funds provided for the project CLEAN. Also, due to the consistent application of the decision stipulated in the Regional Plan, and through the POPOS Programme and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, our company purchased the garbage track 16m3 and 34 containers 1.1 m3, which created conditions for achieving of the goal related to the extension of services for collecting waste from the territory of the municipality of Nova Varoš from current 53% to 75-80 %.“
Veselin Grbović, Mayor of the Municipality of Nikšić
“The project CLEAN is of great importance for the municipality of Nikšić, not only due to the achieved results, but also because it established a valuable partnership that have led to successful cooperation on this project. Also, the project was of great importance because we gained additional experience in the implementation of projects funded by the European Union.
Due to this project, valuable utility equipment was procured and employees in public utility companies and local governments dealing with waste management attended useful trainings related to waste management and recycling. The study visit to the Waste Management Centre, CERO Gajke in Ptuj, Slovenia was of particular importance because the participants had the opportunity to learn about the best practices in waste management which are applied in the European Union and transfer positive experiences in their respective municipalities.
A substantial part of the project was dedicated to the campaign targeted at raising the awareness among citizens on the need for proper waste treatment in order to preserve natural resources for future generations. This is something we have to work on continuously.
The most important aspect of the project is that it is logical continuation of our efforts to provide our fellow citizens neat and clean streets and squares. The project is completed but the activities arising from it will last in future, and this is the best evidence of its true and essential sustainability.“
| Available multimedia resources | ||
| Material | Description | Quality |
| Project logo | JPG | High |
| Photos | – Actions of cleaning of illegal dumps
– Education for employees – Education for citizens and children – Recycled yard in Nova Varoš – etc. |
Relatively high (partly usable for print and web) |
| Video clips – video jingles |
|
High |
