Citizens of districts Varoš and the City welcomed two booths full of plastic and canvas bags in this neighborhood. Part of this is the promotion of a separate waste collection system “door to door” organized by the Association for Nature, Environment and Sustainable Development Sunce and the Environmental Council of the City of Split.
Thus, the organizers, with the help of the volunteers of the Sunce Association as well as the pupils of Primary School Marjan, informed citizens about the importance of the separate collection of waste and shared them a basic package for easy and successful waste disposal – yellow plastic bags, blue for paper and multiple reusable bags.
“Citizens have accepted this action very well, packets with bags are shared, more information were required. The numerous citizens we talked to during the action, wondered why the bags were not distributed after they had spent those received from Čistoća (utility company) at the very beginning of the “door-to-door” pilot project. They also expressed concern that what they collect separately re-terminates unevenly in the overburdened Karepovac landfill, “said Ivana Grubišić, lawyer of the Sunce.
The “door-to-door” system collects waste at the place of production, ie in households, by allowing citizens to sort certain types of waste at a specific time (day of the week), and the utility company collects it. This system is no news for the cities in the world and in Split it is carried out in the districts Varoš and the City. In the Italian cities such as Ponte delle Alpi, utility company collects as much as 91% of the waste or 85% of the waste is collected separately in Treviso, which has 80,000 inhabitants. We have a somewhat different example on the island of Krk, which collects separately about 50% of the waste separately. Unfortunately, the Split example is still measured in prominence. But we believe that the districts of Varoš and the City can do more.
“With this action, we would like to boost the citizens of the Varoš and City districts who have already separated the plastic and paper on every 1st and 15th of the month, as well as encouraging all of our fellow citizens to such a devalued behavior. With a separate collection of waste we protect the environment, we contribute to reducing the already bulky Karepovac with a size of 300 football fields, keeping the health, and not less important, we respect the laws of the Republic of Croatia and the EU. By such a method of collecting waste, it becomes a raw material, not garbage! “Concluded Gabrijela Medunić-Orlić from the Sunce Association.
The action was held within the framework of the “Environmental Partnership” project, for which financial support was provided by the EU (90%) under the Grant Scheme for Strengthening Support to Civil Society Organizations to Increase Transparency and Good Public Administration Management in Croatia in the Implementation of IPA Component I 2011 Program for Croatia under IPA – Component “Assistance in Transition and Institution Building” for 2011) and the Office for NGOs of the Government of the Republic of Croatia.
The Environmental Council of the City of Split brings together experts, representatives of relevant institutions, utilities companies and citizens who, through their achievements and environmental awareness, can contribute to the improvement of the quality of the city’s environment through the adoption of proposals and the implementation of joint activities. Through its work, the Council monitors the implementation of existing environmental plans and programs and is involved in bringing new ones with an emphasis on two priority environmental problems in the city of Split – waste management and greenery.