After working diligently over the last decade to better protect its residents from hazardous chemicals and waste, the government of Serbia is now on the fast track to accomplish this goal.
Through funding from the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Chemicals and Waste Management Programme, the country is embarking on a 3-year project to tackle its most pressing problems caused by consumers’ access to hazardous substances. The success of this endeavor is critical for the Southeastern European country to meet its current obligations under the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions.
Serbia, a landlocked country in the heart of the Balkans, is home to an estimated 6.7 million people. Most of the population lives in urban areas.[1] In the coming years, more people are expected to move to Serbian cities in search of better opportunities. While this could be a boon to the economy, it could also worsen the country’s already inadequate ability to manage domestic, industrial, and hazardous chemicals and waste.
Despite past efforts, Serbia is still battling a number of air, water, and land pollution issues. Concentrations of air pollutants in Serbia’s cities, particularly particulate matter, regularly exceeds the levels recommended in the World Health Organization’s air quality guidelines.[2] Likewise, water pollution from industrial waste sites has a negative impact on the country’s main river, the Danube, and its primary tributary, the Sava.[3] Meanwhile, a study conducted by Serbia’s Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) uncovered that 80 percent of the 2.9 million tons of municipal waste in 2020 ended up in unsanitary landfills.[4]
The government of Serbia, led by the MEP and a carefully selected national expert team (NET), will explore and find solutions to these issues. As a first step, the MEP/NET will strengthen Serbia’s policy framework and ability to implement its chemicals and waste management plans. As part of this effort, Serbia’s National Chemicals Management Profile (NCMP) will be revised.
This document presents an analysis of the country’s legal, institutional, administrative, and technical capacity for chemicals management. By working in concert with stakeholders within other national government authorities, industries, academia, and non-governmental authorities, the MEP/NET will identify challenges and gaps in its current NCMP. For example, the updated NCMP will likely contain amendments to implement restrictions or bans on products containing nanoparticles or microplastics.
In addition to the NCMP, the project supports developing a national inventory of consumer products containing nanoparticles and microplastics. These will include a wide range of personal care products, paints, detergents, abrasives, and agricultural chemicals that are commonly and unfortunately bought by consumers.
Once in hand, both the national inventory and NCMP will be leveraged to educate and guide all stakeholders working in the chemicals and waste management sector. Key groups to reach and train are producers, importers, and distributors of plastic articles and other materials that negatively impact public and environmental health. Through making these industry stakeholders a part of the solution, the MEP/NET expects to see a significant reduction of consumers’ exposure to hazardous substances.
Of course, the public is also a key group to reach. Most Serbians are unaware of the threats hazardous chemicals and waste pose to themselves and their neighbours. Through awareness-raising events, workshops, and printed materials, Serbians of all ages will both learn about their country’s waste and chemicals management issues and what they can do to make their air, water, and land safer. They will also be armed with tools to protect themselves.
For example, the MEP already knows that females, including pregnant women, are the main buyers and users of everyday products made with potentially hazardous substances, including toys. So, the MEP will inform these groups about commercially available mobile phone applications that identify potentially unsafe products by scanning barcodes.
While the project is already multifaceted, the MEP/NET will constantly seek further avenues to make it more impactful. After implementation, it will hopefully have served as the catalyst to bring meaningful and long-lasting change in Serbia’s ability to manage hazardous chemicals and waste.
