The amount of recycled glass packaging in the Western Balkans region is still far from the level prescribed by the European Union. The reasons why most of the used glass packaging ends up in landfills or illegal dumps, where takes more than 5,000 years glass to decompose, are mostly related to insufficient infrastructure for glass collection and recycling. 

In order to enable the economical effects of glass recycling, it is necessary to increase quantities of collected glass packaging. That is why the first operator of the packaging waste management system in Bosnia and Herzegovina "Ekopak" in cooperation with the German Organization for International Cooperation (GIZ), the National Alliance for Local Economic Development "Naled" from Serbia, the Association of Local Self-Government Units ZELS from Nothern Macedonia, the Association for Economic Development of Herzegovina REDAH from Bosnia and Herzegovina and as well as system operators "Sekopak " from Serbia and “Pakomak" from Northern Macedonia, launched a regional project "Management of glass packaging in the Western Balkans".

The project will be implemented in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Northern Macedonia with the aim of increasing the amount of collected and recycled glass packaging with the installation of new containers.

"In the countries of the Western Balkans there is no tradition of collecting and recycling of glass packaging due to insufficient collection capacities and high transport costs for recycling. Since 2013., Ekopak has been working on the development of a packaging waste management system in our country, that includes collection of glass packaging waste. An appropriate level of recycling has been achieved, but there is room for improvement and we are happy to join this regional project. One of the goals of the project is to increase the rate of glass packaging collection in pilot municipalities in all three countries by 20%. These are Niš and Sombor in Serbia, Stip and Ilinden in Northern Macedonia, Bihać and Novi Travnik in Bosnia and Herzegovina", said Managing Director of Ekopak, Amela Hrbat

In order to achieve, in practice all these benefits in regard to recycling of glass packaging, Ekopak and its project partners will analyze the current situation related to glass recycling and in cooperation with local decision makers from selected pilot municipalities identify elements for improvement. In this way, the foundations for a cost-effective glass recycling value chain in the Western Balkans will be set-up, as a crucial step for a profitable circular economy in the region.