Op Ed by Marco Mantovanelli, Country Manager,

The World Bank, Bosnia and Herzegovina

We in the World Bank usually tend to talk about the economy and not about trash. But as the economy grows and living standards improve over time,  we produce and consume more services and goods. We generate more waste. And this is the issue I want to write about today.

As a result of growing industry and improving living standards, Bosnia and Herzegovina has to cope with an ever growing amount of waste. Estimations suggest that BiH citizens produce two to three million tons of solid waste every year. A number set to increase.

Collecting and disposing solid waste poses a challenging task for every, even the most developed, country in the world. Take as an example my own country, Italy, which is currently struggling with waste management crisis.

Bosnia and Herzegovina does not have such a burning problem. As a matter of fact the country has achieved notable success in improving waste management ever since 2002, when BH governments started to implement its Solid Waste Management Strategy.

In this process some 50 municipalities in six regions came together to jointly collect and manage the disposal of communal waste. Almost 145 wild dumps sites have been cleaned and closed in the process.

I recently visited Banja Luka and Sarajevo and I was impressed to see what has been achieved there. Both sanitary landfills established in these two cities meet highest international standards.  Neat grass covers the land and trees surround the site. People living close to the sites often say how different it looked only a few years back. Landfill gas emissions used to cause frequent incidents while garbage leakage contaminated water and soil.

Today, a water processing facility allows redirection of liquid filtrates into the Miljacka River without polluting it, while a methanol-based energy production facility generates 0.3 Mega-Watt of electricity a year, which is supplied to households through the power distribution network. In Sarajevo a self-sustaining recycling facility, the first of its kind in BH, begun to function at EU-level standards and will eventually turn a profit.

This success has been achieved thanks to a cooperation which took place across inter-entity lines, as municipalities from both the BiH Federation and Republika Srpska recognized their own interest to collaborate in establishing joint regional sites.

I am proud to say that the World Bank has supported these efforts for six consecutive years. Yet, a major task still lies ahead. There are still many towns and areas across the country whose waste dumps have to be rehabilitated and improved. Not to mention hundreds of wild dumps sprawled along Bosnia’s roads, and otherwise beautiful canyons and pristine coves. Without fixing this problem for the long run, BH cities and towns will face health risks, and the country’s attempts to attract “green” tourism will fail.

This is why in July, we will consider approving additional concessional funds, which will support the second phase of the solid waste management strategy in BH. This phase envisages the construction of six new sanitary landfills by the end of 2009.

But all these efforts will not be enough without the participation of the whole community. I enjoy enormously hiking in the wilderness in BH. But too often I am confronted with plastic bottles and other waste. Too often I see the car driver in front of me dumping out of his window whatever he does not want to keep in his car.

So I say, let’s continue to talk trash to ensure a cleaner future in BH.