The first underground eco-island in Bihać
Bihać got its first underground eco-island. In order to achieve the most efficient collection of packaging waste and to reduce the number of existing open, above-ground containers in the inner city core, as well as to enable the selective disposal of waste in containers intended for the separation of paper, plastic, glass and metal packaging waste and mixed communal waste, the first underground eco-island was installed in front of the Bihać Municipality building.
Eco-island has four special containers, three for recyclable materials (yellow for plastic and metal, blue for paper, green for glass) and one black for mixed municipal waste. Each container has a volume of three cubic meters, which means that four underground containers will achieve the same capacity as 12 classic containers and save space for disposal.
The realization of this project is extremely important for the city and is the result of long-term, successful cooperation between PUK Komrad and the first operator for packaging waste management system, Ekopak.
Eco-island officially started operating on February 22, and on that occasion a meeting of the implementers of this project was organized. It was attended by Mehura Selimović, director of PUC Komrad, Vildana Zulić, assistant to the mayor of the City of Bihać for communal activities, water and environmental protection, Edin Ibrahimpašić, director of the Bihać Brewery and member of the Supervisory Board of Ekopak, Amela Hrbat, managing director of Ekopak as well as children from the Bihać City Kindergarten.
On that occasion, the director of Komrad Mehura Selimović said that Bihać, as a tourist destination, needs such projects and that the underground eco-islands are solution to problem of careless and improper waste disposal. On this occasion, he thanked Ekopaku for the long-term successful cooperation and announced new projects.
Ekopak contributed significantly to the implementation of this project through co-financing the procurement, installation of underground eco-island. On this occasion, Ekopak managing director Amela Hrbat said that the city of Bihać is already actively working on finding new locations for establishment of new underground eco-islands. She also recalled the impressive results of the work of PUC Komrad, whose share is 50% in the total amount of packaging waste that public utility companies from the Ekopak system collect and hand over for recycling.
The meeting was also attended by children from the Bihać City Kindergarten who delighted those present with a great recitation and after that they participated in an entertaining and educational workshop on how to dispose of packaging waste and the importance of recycling.