25.09.2023.
Representatives of the Fund participated in the conference organised by Komunal magazine, which gathered around 200 participants to discuss environmental policies, municipal waste management, and the results achieved in the previous periods.Deputy director of the Fund Mirko Budiša said that in the last few years the Fund had invested around 150 million euros of national funding in waste management programmes, while more than 500 million euros had been withdrawn from the European Union funds. “In reality, these investments are even higher because we take into account the share that was provided in the budgets of towns, municipalities, and their utility companies. This shows that waste management is not cheap by any means; on the contrary, it requires huge investments, but not disposing of the waste properly is even costlier. And not only for the environment, but human health as well,” pointed out Budiša, adding that targeted education should contribute to waste prevention.
At the conference, MEP Sunčana Glavak presented the ‘right to repair’ initiative, for which the European Parliament has appointed her as rapporteur, and which is believed to be one of key steps to the circular economy by 2050 under the European Green Deal.
“The European Parliament advocates an increase in the consumers’ ‘right to repair’, and they adopted two resolutions with a number of concrete proposals to the European Commission on how to make repair systematic and cost-effective. It is of the utmost importance the make repair more practical, cheaper, and easier for the consumers, at the same time trying to reduce waste by increasing the demand for repair services, thus empowering this sector,” said MEP Glavak, adding that according to the Eurobarometer survey, 77 % of consumers in the EU would rather repair their goods than buy new ones.
The head of the Environmental Protection Sector at the Fund, Aleksandra Čilić, presented the data regarding landfill remediation and current public calls of the Fund, while the head of the Sector for EU Funds talked about the construction of waste management centres. Vesna Cetin Krnjević, head of the Department for preparing EU projects, raised the topic of reducing food waste.
Like other participants in the conference. Marijan Kavran, the Komunal magazine editor-in-chief, pointed out that the communication of the Fund with key stakeholders in waste management was at all-time high, while Lidija Tošić, the head of the Public relations department at the Fund, as one of the speakers in the conference panel, talked about the importance of information and education, and creating promotional campaigns.
