Bottle return would store pocket and environment

Now 14 years old, Halil Avdiu, a worker of the public municipal company “Horticulture”, maintains the Dardania Lage park in Pristina.

On one morning in February, he had collected three sacks of garbage more than half of them plastic waste.

These are exacerbating the beauty of the park”, he says, showing the REL team sacks mostly filled with plastic bottles of water and fluids, but also aluminum cans.

“also throw from the high quarters, but citizens who pass through or stay in Park”, says 51-year-old.

Images like these in Dardan Park can be seen in other parks in the capital or even in the streets and neighborhoods.

The products of plastic, especially, are considered environmentally harmful because they become microplastics and live long, threatening the wild world and spreading toxins.

To reduce their share, the Kosovo Ministry of Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure has taken several steps.

By September 2022, he paid for plastic bags, while in February he published the call for the establishment of the Administrator's Repursation System, which will take plastic, glass, and aluminum waste under management.

This call precedes the empowerment of an administrative directive to restore deposits, expected on January 1st of next year.

How will administrative instruction work?

Environment Deputy Minister, Space Planning and Infrastructure, Jeton Raca, tells Radio Free Europe that consumers who buy products in plastic bottles, glass or cans, after use, will be able to return their ambalaz.

In return, they will receive a certain amount of money.

According to Rakes, initially the price is thought to be five or ten cents.

“Deposit will be returned to the citizen after he returns the bottles to a return state of”, he says.

Raka adds how it belongs to producers, importers and retail vendors to ensure that the deposit adds to the price of the ambalized product at the moment of the sale, while turning to the consumer following the return of the ambalage.

To that end, according to him, Kosovo also has the support of international partners, such as the European Union and the German Agency for International Co-operation.

Some citizens surveyed by REL in Pristina say they are eager to implement this initiative.

Perihane Bunnjaku says he will benefit materially on one side and the environment will be cleaner on the other.
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Besides financial means, the environmental preservation is important. Nature, water, air... Garbage is killing green”, says Merita Zymi.

In some European Union countries where Kosovo is learning to membership, similar measures already apply.

In Germany, for example, with the scheme of deposit return, consumers are encouraged to turn glass and plastic bottles into retail shops where they are collected and recycled.

Retail drinks are added to an additional fee that the consumer can recover after returning the empty bottle.

The European Union, in July 2021, has strengthened the directive that prohibits plastic for use, including dishes, glasses, drinking sticks, and bags.

This plastic, according to EU estimates, makes up about 70% of the maritime waste in Europe.

The EU's ultimate goal is that by 2030, any remaining plastics are reused or recycled.

What do experts say?

According to experts, recycling plastic waste reduces buried waste, reduces pollution, preserves natural and other resources.

Lorik Mucaj, founder and executive director of the nongovernmental organisation Green Art Center, says putting the tax on products with plastic, glass or aluminum ambales is the best “news for environmental protection.

“The plastic plants create enormous damage, not only environmental but also economic damage”, he says, alluding to the expenses made for their collection and burial.

He expresses conviction that the return of the bottles will create a cleaner environment in Kosovo. But, he adds, awareness campaigns are needed both by government institutions and private operators.

Kosovo Statistics Agency data shows that in 2022 the amount of waste treated and deposited in Kosovo has been over 521 thousand tonnes. Of them, 35 percent have been plastic waste.

In Kosovo, five sanitation depots operate under the Deposit Management Company.

Environment Minister Lieburn Aliu has warned at the end of January that “is in line with the new waste strategy, aimed at recycling, will begin building recycling centres throughout all areas of Kosovo”.

However, he has not indicated when to start building them.

How is this issue arranged in the region?

In northern Macedonia, for example, the Ministry of Life Environment and Space Planning has drafted a regulation for collecting plastic bottles.

For its implementation, it has authorized the company “Pakmac”, which at some points in Skopje and other cities has set up devices where citizens can throw plastic bottles.

There is also the “Ecomak” app, which can be downloaded from citizens and recorded throwing bottles.
In that case, they earn green <x0-2-5x1>, depending on the waste.

“GreenPicts”, then, can be exchanged for various benefits, such as the vault for discounting and other sales items, discounts during public service payment, donations, etc.

In Serbia, meanwhile, there is a deposit for glass bottles, but only for some types of products mostly beer.

When the consumer returns those empty bottles, he may receive bottles filled with no extra payment.

When it comes to recycling plastic, at some points in Belgrade there are several devices where citizens can throw plastic ambalas to bottles and other items and fill the transport card with symbolic sums.

And, the park owner at Dardani, Pristina, says that even if there is no material benefit, waste disposal would be good to be done at certain locations and not anywhere.

Because it's good both for citizens and for nature. Look at the park cleaned up. It looks so beautiful. Come tomorrow morning and see different types of waste”, says Halil Avdiu. /Radio Free Europe