Waste is no longer being disposed of at the old Vinca landfill

Photo: Tanjug/Milos Milivojevic

The Vinca landfill, where waste has been disposed of for the last 40 years, is completely closed, Minister of Environmental Protection Irena Vujovic said today, adding that after the ongoing works have been completed, the old landfill, where a fire recently broke out, will be fully rehabilitated.

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Vujovic and Deputy Mayor of Belgrade Goran Vesic toured the works on the construction of an electricity plant and a sanitary landfill for disposal of communal waste.

She stressed that it is important that the old landfill, which is closed, is rehabilitated and recultivated as soon as possible, and that she will do her best for that to happen before the 2023 deadline.

"We had a fire, such things happen all over Serbia and the world, it happened at the old landfill due to the 40 years of waste disposal in a way that is not prescribed, I hope it will not happen again," Vujovic told reporters in Vinca.

The minister explained that because of the fire at the landfill, the air quality is monitored daily and while the fire was still burning, an increased concentration of harmful particles had been measured, while after it was put out, the emission of harmful substances decreased.

"We measure air quality according to all European standards and we will continue to follow all European trends and act according to directives of the European Union," says Vujovic.

She announced that in the coming period, regional recycling centers will be built in eight regions, and that a tender for four regions in Serbia will be announced at the beginning of the year.

Photo: Tanjug/Milos Milivojevic

"We are starting with the first phase in Kolubara, Nova Varos, Sombor and Duboko in Uzice," she stated.

Deputy Mayor Goran Vesic said that about 500,000 tons of waste were deposited at the old municipal waste landfill in Vinca every year, and that shutting it down will change that.

He recalled that in 2018, a dam was built at the Vinca landfill, which prevented the entire landfill from "falling" into the Danube River.

"We stopped the sliding of the landfill towards the Danube, which prevented perhaps the biggest European environmental catastrophe," said Vesic.

He added that thanks to the French company Suez and Japan's Itochu, which according to him are among the leading global waste management companies, a sanitary landfill for waste disposal is being built, as well as plants for wastewater and construction waste.

Photo: Tanjug/Milos Milivojevic

A power plant for communal waste and for producing landfill gas is also being built, which he said would be completed in July, and which will produce thermal energy for heating Belgrade, as well as electricity.

He recalled that more than 20 kilometers of heat transmission lines from Konjarnik to Vinca have been built so far, so that thermal energy can be transported to Konjarnik in order for Belgrade to be partially heated by thermal energy generated from waste.

"340,000 tons of waste will be processed there and in that way all the waste we generate in Belgrade will be treated properly," he explained.

He pointed out that in the 44 years since waste started to be dumped at the landfill, about four billion cubic meters of methane got emitted into the atmosphere - according to the data of the Belgrade Public Health Institute.

He announced that in the coming period, construction of 17 transfer stations will begin - these are facilities in which waste is briefly retained and sorted by type, after which it is transported to the landfill.

"We can start disposing of waste the way it is done in all other developed countries, and that is the job that awaits us in the coming years," said Vesic.

(Telegraf.rs)