Project title: Toward Zero Waste CBC (TO 0 WASTE)
Main goal of the project: Transition to circular and resource-efficient management by jointly reducing the amount of waste in landfills, increasing separated waste collection, and reducing illegal dumpsites in the Municipality of Tuzi, the Municipality of Konavle, and the City of Mostar.
Project duration: 15.7.2024 – 14.1.2027 (30 months)
Total project budget: 2,251,839.00 EUR
EU co-financing amount: 1,914,063.15 EUR
Priority axis of the program: Priority axis 2 – Green investments in environmental protection and efficient risk management
Project description:
The Toward Zero Waste CBC project focuses on common challenges in waste management, including poor technical and human resources in municipal enterprises, financial problems, and low levels of waste separation and recycling in the cross-border area. Limited landfill capacity and large illegal dumpsites further complicate the situation, while public awareness of the importance of proper waste disposal is low. The project partners, the Municipality of Tuzi, the Municipality of Konavle, and the City of Mostar, aim to address some of these shared problems through the project activities.
The Municipality of Konavle, which has a more advanced waste management system compared to the other two partners, will help improve waste management systems in Mostar and Tuzi through knowledge transfer and cross-border cooperation. The project will establish the thematic team TO 0 WASTE, consisting of members of municipal enterprises from Tuzi, Mostar, and Konavle, as well as the project team, focusing on waste management and the transfer of practices and experiences in separated waste collection implemented in Konavle. Joint promotional campaigns to enhance waste recycling and raise public awareness of smart resource management will be conducted in the project’s cross-border area.
The cross-border approach is necessary to strengthen the technical capacities of municipal enterprises through the procurement of specialized equipment for separated waste collection. Additionally, cleaning illegal dumpsites and exchanging experiences and knowledge will improve waste management and reduce the disposal of mixed waste in landfills.
The project will lay the foundation for future cooperation by developing joint action plans and signing cooperation agreements between project partners and municipal enterprises, aimed at jointly improving waste management.
The project’s results will benefit project partners, municipal enterprises, the population, businesses, institutions, and participants in joint workshops.
Key project activities:
- Increasing the technical capacities of municipal enterprises in Tuzi, Mostar, and Konavle for separated waste collection
- Cleaning, rehabilitation, and prevention of new illegal dumpsites
- Joint workshop scheme on circular economy and waste management for interested stakeholders, including a study visit to Slovenia
- Promotional campaign to promote the implementation of the circular economy through improved waste management
- Development of solid waste management plans for 2025-2030 for Tuzi and Mostar
- TO 0 WASTE School in Action
Expected key project results:
Solutions to improve separated waste collection and prevent and rehabilitate illegal dumpsites tested in two pilot actions:
- Separated waste collection will start in Mostar and be improved in Konavle and Tuzi, increasing the technical capacities of these three local government units through the procurement of equipment and the transfer of practices from Konavle to the City of Mostar and the Municipality of Tuzi, resulting in an increase in the percentage of separated waste collected from households and institutions
- Improved cleaning, rehabilitation, and prevention of new illegal dumpsites in Mostar, Tuzi, and Konavle through the transfer of good practices from Konavle to Mostar and Tuzi, which will result in a reduction in the creation of new illegal dumpsites.
The adoption of these pilot actions will be documented through the development of Solid Waste Management Plans for 2025-2030 for Tuzi and Mostar, including action plans with activities to be implemented based on jointly developed solutions tested in the project’s pilot actions.
Project partnership:
The project partnership consists of three local government units, with the Municipality of Tuzi as the lead partner, the Municipality of Konavle, and the City of Mostar. All three local governments will improve their waste management systems through the technical equipping of their municipal enterprises with specialized equipment and vehicles for separated waste collection, as well as cleaning and preventing illegal dumpsites.
The Municipality of Tuzi is responsible for the overall management and implementation of the project. In addition to activities related to its role as the lead partner, Tuzi will procure the necessary specialized equipment, organize workshops on waste management, and lead an intensive promotional campaign to raise awareness of recycling, waste prevention, and illegal dumpsites. Tuzi will introduce a new service for the collection of bulky waste from home addresses through a call to the free hotline of Komunalno d.o.o. Tuzi. As the lead partner, Tuzi will coordinate the development of the Solid Waste Management Plan 2025-2030 for the Municipality of Tuzi and the City of Mostar.
The Municipality of Konavle will provide specialized waste collection vehicles, waste separation equipment, and work on the rehabilitation and greening of five locations to prevent the creation of illegal dumpsites, installing video surveillance at these locations. In cooperation with the other partners, Konavle will organize a study visit to Slovenia. Other activities will include the production of three educational videos promoting waste separation and illegal dumpsite prevention, participation in providing relevant data for selected experts in developing the Solid Waste Management Plan for Tuzi and Mostar, and organizing waste recycling education workshops.
The City of Mostar, as a project partner, will also strengthen its capacities by procuring waste collection vehicles, specialized containers for waste separation, bulky waste containers, and other waste separation equipment. It will work on the rehabilitation and greening of ten illegal dumpsites and prevent the creation of illegal dumpsites through the installation of video surveillance. Throughout the project, a promotional campaign on waste separation and illegal dumpsite prevention will be conducted. Five educational promotional videos will be produced, and workshops on waste management and recycling education will be organized in schools with the provision of containers for waste separation. Together with the other partners, Mostar will work on developing the Solid Waste Management Plan.
The project is co-financed by EU IPA III funds.
More information on the Interreg IPA cross-border cooperation program Croatia-Bosnia and Herzegovina-Montenegro 2021-2027 can be found at: https://interreg-hr-ba-me.eu/