Previously, 100 such containers were procured and 69 were delivered to the Municipality of Bihać and 31 to the Municipality of Novi Travnik. German Development Cooperation and Ekopak provided a total of 190 special containers within the regional project "Management of glass packaging in the Western Balkans", which includes Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia and Northern Macedonia through their system operators Ekopak, Sekopak and Pakomak with the support of the German Organization for international cooperation - GIZ, NALED, ZELS and REDAH.

Due to the insufficient number of containers for the disposal of glass packaging but also the lack of appropriate recycling facilities, glass is less recycled in the Western Balkans than is the case in the member states of the European Union. EU countries recycle about 70% of glass packaging annually, while in BiH the amount is 12%. Most of the used glass in our country ends up in landfills or illegal dumps and in such conditions it takes as much as 5,000 years for it to decompose.

Given that glass is the only packaging material with 100% recycling efficiency and can be recycled indefinitely, we are free to award it the title - "star of the recycling industry"! Therefore, before we put an empty glass bottle or jar after usage in the container with other municipal waste, we should keep in mind some of the following facts:

1. By recycling one glass bottle, a 100W bulb can work for a full 4 hours!
2. By recycling one glass bottle, you save energy to power your computer for 25 minutes!
3. Recycling one ton of glass saves 42Kwh of electricity or 19 liters of oil!
4. By recycling 1000 kilograms of glass, the emission of harmful gases is reduced by 3 kilograms in relation to the production of new glass.
5. By recycling glass we can save about 40% of energy and 50% of water needed to produce new glass and reduce air pollution by 20% and water by 50%.

In order to make the situation, regarding the management of glass packaging waste in the region, more favorable in the coming period, the project "Management of glass packaging in the Western Balkans" is being implemented. Thus, 190 special containers for the disposal of glass packaging will be installed in the municipalities of Bihać, Novi Travnik, Konjic and Ilidža as well as in selected cities and municipalities of Northern Macedonia and Serbia. 

The goal is to increase the amount of collected glass packaging in the region by 20%, as well as to reach a sustainable model of collection and recycling of glass packaging that would gradually expand to other municipalities in BiH in the coming years. In addition to this technical part, an appropriate campaign was developed aimed at raising citizens' awareness of the importance of recycling this packaging material. The campaign is unique for all three countries and at the same time respects the specifics of each of the countries. It will be implemented at the local level in the local communities involved in the project. The project in BiH is implemented by Ekopak, GIZ and REDAH.