From the round table “European Achievements in Waste Management and Prospects in Serbia”

Novi Sad, 19 October – The Office for European Affairs has organized a round table named “European Achievements in Waste Management and Prospects in Serbia”, where experts from the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Spatial Planning, independent experts, representatives of the EU Integration Office of Serbian Government, Ball Packaging Europe, (beverage can producers), SEKOPAK (Society For Managing Packaging Waste) and others addressed the representatives of the Executive Council, districts and local self-governments of Vojvodina, and employees of public utility companies and private companies in industry. “The European values the Office for European Affairs is striving to promote in our country are life in healthy environment, fresh air breathing, washing one’s face with pure water and healthy nutrition”, said Predrag Novikov, Director of the Office for European Affairs. Đorđe Jovanović, Assistant Minister of Environmental Protection, emphasized that one of the priorities of the Ministry was to approve European regulations on environmental protection. The results have been the Law on Waste Management, which making is in the final phase, and other relevant acts.

Zoran Sretić, Advisor at the EU Integration Office, gave an overview of European regulations on waste management, and Zoran Tešić, Head of Waste Department of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, spoke about the Law on Waste Management. Hristina Stevanović-Čarapina, an independent expert, presented the situation about waste management in our country to the persons present, whereas Aleksandra Vučinić, Advisor at the Department of Communal Waste of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, addressed the communal segment and participation of local self-governments and public utility companies. Radmila Šerović, Head of Department of Biological, Medical and Other Waste of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, explained the problems with biological, medical and other waste disposal and emphasized the need for inter-ministerial cooperation, especially with the Ministry of Health. Miloš Uzelac, Manager of Regulatory Affairs of Ball Packaging Europe, and Rebeka Boživić, Secretary General of SEKOPAK, explained that it was in the interest of industry to get involved into the making of regulations, and spoke about world and European associations of manufacturers and users of packaging, as well as about the need to include our country into European trends.