This March, Ekopak signed a memorandum of understanding with the prestigious international organization Save the Children, with the primary goal: to increase the inclusion of children in recycling processes.

The planned activities will be implemented by the end of May 2022. Thus, the students of the elementary school "Mirsad Prnjavorac" Vogošća and the elementary school "Stari Ilijaš" Ilijaš will have the opportunity to participate in the training on the topic of packaging waste management and in the coming months a workshop is planned for students with the same topic.

Through its work, Ekopak will directly contribute to raising the awareness of young citizens about the importance of packaging waste recycling and environmental protection, and through interactive workshops and trainings children will get better acquainted with the recycling system in BiH.

"Respecting the integrity and position that Save the Children has in its work with children, we are very glad that we have achieved this cooperation and we believe that we will have excellent results through various projects. Our ten years of experience show that children are extremely interested and grateful for participating in our workshops on environmental protection. What is important to point out is that everything they learn through our support remains for them to apply in the future " said Amela Hrbat, managing director of Ekopak, adding:
"We adapt all activities, in the field of environmental protection that we carry out with children, to their age, we work with children from kindergartens, primary and secondary schools and even with students from universities. Children are very interested in the way we teach them to sort different waste and take care of the community in which they live. Children are our special responsibility because we have experience, we have resources, they are our target group because the knowledge we give them will last a lifetime and ultimately educate their parents. "Children are really our ambassadors in the field of environmental protection," said Hrbat.

In addition to the above, activities are planned for local communities: events and campaigns at the level of local communities - Vogošća and Ilijaš, with the aim of raising awareness and advocating for changes in recycling, packaging waste management and climate action.

"The goal of joint cooperation with the company EKOPAK d.o.o. the environmental project is to strengthen the capacity of primary school children to become environmentally aware. The project entitled "Schools as green zones - increasing readiness for climate change in the education sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina" will be piloted in two primary schools in Sarajevo Canton - Primary School "Stari Ilijaš" from Ilijaš and Primary School "Mirsad Prnjavorac" from Vogošća and this could be a common model that can be extended to other schools, so there is the possibility of replication in other areas.Through different project activities in these two schools, we want to contribute to raising awareness in communities about the importance of improving waste management, air pollution monitoring, and "We are educating a generation of young people whose environmental awareness will be a culture of life in the near future" said Andrea Žeravčić, Save the Children 's Director for the Northwest Balkans.

It is important to note that the citizens of these local communities will receive help and support in assessing the need for procurement of waste sorting containers for schools and connecting schools with operators for sorting waste, in order to implement this positive story.

In the near future, students will contribute to waste management and the recycling process on a daily basis.

Consciousness B&H citizens, companies, and organizations on the importance of packaging recycling and the environment in general is growing every year and Ekopak will always support such and similar initiatives with its work and commitment, thus strengthening B&H's path to EU and international standards.