Ekostar Pak - Let's Recycle Together!

– Circular economy enables closed-loop resource use, thus extending the life cycle of a products, guaranteeing that materials will be used again and again and contributing to lower consumption of materials. Taking care in the waste management hierarchy, reducing, reusing and recycling are very important principles. These principles are known as Three Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) and are prominent in many countries, though not sufficiently enough in Serbia, says Peric.

(Bojana Peric, Ekostar Pak)

Education on recycling is necessary

Dumping waste should be the last link in the waste management chain. Apart from circular economy, there is also linear economy where the natural resources are extracted from the environment, used to make a new product and then that product is expended and dumped as waste. This refers to non-renewable raw materials that can`t be used again, that are not recycled and that turn into waste which negatively impacts the environment.

The materials can enter the recycling process only if the waste is separated correctly. Western Europe countries are examples that successful recycling is possible. We all need to contribute to recycling on an individual level, but above all, the companies need to prompt the use of recyclable materials. The latest statistics in Serbia indicates that state-owned enterprises collect and dump 2.4 million tonnes of communal waste and that there are 135 unsanitary dump sites and thousands of illegal landfills.

The solution to more efficient packaging waste management lies in improving the cooperation between local self-governments and operators that are responsible for packaging waste. This is why Ekostar Pak collaborates with many public utility companies (PUC) in Serbia with the aim to advance the primary selection, collection and recycling of packaging waste.

Parallel to that, the company is actively participating and organizing educational courses for the general public about the importance of separating communal waste in households, with focus on the education of children.

– It is important to start from the early childhood, so our educational workshops are organized in kindergartens as well as in elementary and high schools. The company is especially proud of its “Eco school” project that will be carried out in educational facilities around the country this year, with the goal to motivate children to separate waste correctly.

Also, we are working with Andrej Josifovski, aka Pijanista (The Pianist), the artist and architect that called attention to the significance of environmental protection with his “Eco Cikica” (Eco figure) projects in a different and unique way. Last year, Pijanista made this Eco figure on the occasion of World Environment Days. The figure is eight meters tall and it was first “dressed” in cardboard then in plastic and this year in metal sending a powerful socially responsible message – to raise awareness on the importance of managing waste and saving our environment, Peric says.

In addition, Ekostar Pak is the environmental partner to numerous music and sport events – Serbia Bussiness Run, Exit Festival, Belgrade Beer Fest and others.

– We`ve launched the project of awarding Ekostar Pak Star to hospitality businesses (HoReCa) in cooperation with the Kappa Star Recycling operator to show the visitors that those venues are a part of the network of facilities that actively recycle, Peric states.

Ekostar Pak is the national operator of the packaging waste management system that organizes the collection, recycling and reuse of packaging waste, on behalf of its clients which place the packaging on the Serbian market, and ensures the realization of goals set by the Regulation on the establishment of the Packaging Waste Reduction Plan and the Law on packaging and packaging waste.

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