For a cleaner Mediterranean by the year 2020
This initiative is funded by the European Commission through DG EuropeAid.

Horizon 2020 strengthens capacities on how to manage hazardous industrial waste

on 17 Sep 2012.

Podgorica, Montenegro hosted a sub-regional Horizon 2020 workshop on “Hazardous Industrial Waste Clean-up and Management”. Some 30 professionals from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Montenegro participated at the 2.5-day sub-regional training on 10-12 July 2012.

Podgorica, Montenegro hosted a sub-regional Horizon 2020 workshop on “Hazardous Industrial Waste Clean-up and Management”. Some 30 professionals from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Montenegro participated at the 2.5-day sub-regional training on 10-12 July 2012.

The workshop was organized within the framework of the ENPI Horizon 2020 CB/MEP project, the Association of Cities and Regions for Recycling and Sustainable Resource Management (ACR+) with the support of external trainers/ training organizations.

Acknowledging the fact that the present handling of hazardous waste in the Western Balkans is not sustainable and that it is being covered by laws in a fragmentary way, the training succeeded in deepening the understanding of the trainees’ on the complex and multidimensional challenges of hazardous industrial waste clean-up and management.

The course introduced participants to the current status of the implementation of the related waste legislation in their countries, the relevant EU legislation and the expected evolution of waste streams, quantities and destinations. Lectures focused on topics such as hazardous waste handling, storage and transportation; labeling, permits and registration; treatment and disposal options; support service elements (e.g. information and education); selection criteria for delivering national strategies; and guiding principles such as the self-sufficiency principle, proximity principle, the least transboundary movement principle, the polluter pays principle, the principle of sovereignty.

Special emphasis was given to the issues of control and inspection as part of monitoring programmes, as well as to the role, responsibility and duties of the different stakeholders regarding monitoring. The trainees’ skills were enhanced through a case study exercise on the considerations (economic, environmental, legal, technical and social) to be taken into account when applying for a permit to establish a hazardous waste facility.

Picture1

 Field trip at the Neksan dumpsite in Niksic

On the second day of the training, a field trip was organized at the NEKSAN Industry and Neksan dumpsite in Niksic, were the three options for rehabilitation of the dump site: basic remediation (reprofiling & stability measures); closure of the landfills and rehabilitation (new destination) and closure of the south part and using the north part as a new controlled landfill, were thoroughly discussed.

The training coincided with a national public hearing on identifying a location for a hazardous waste landfill in Montenegro and the case study was presented by one of the trainers, Mr. Vladimir Filipovic, who participated at the hearing and led to constructive discussions and fruitful exchange of experiences.