Citizens are "guilty", bills are higher, and garbage is everywhere: It overflows from the container to Užice

It doesn't leak, but it overflows - that's how, in short, the situation with garbage can be described I will enjoy it and surrounding villages. One year after the fire at the regional landfill "Duboko", one of the largest cities in western Serbia and the seat of the Zlatibor District still does not know what to do with its garbage.

In fact, the solution to the problem is not even in sight.

Meanwhile, photos of overflowing containers in and around this city have been circulating on social networks for weeks, with complaints that the PUK "Bioktoš", responsible for collecting and depositing waste, is not doing its job.

The dissatisfaction of the residents of Užice escalated at the end of April, when the citizens' association "Da (No) Breathe Deeply" picked up the waste dumped next to the containers in the central city streets and took it to the City Hall.

The trash was then cleared within an hour.

What is the situation with waste removal in Užice and why are the locals complaining that the city is threatened with a new environmental disaster?

A year of unsolved problem

In order to fully understand the situation in Užice, it is necessary to go back a year.

In May 2024, a major environmental disaster struck a city with a population of around 70.000, including the surrounding area. At the regional landfill "Duboko", which is located in the immediate vicinity of Užice, a fire broke out, which took three weeks to extinguish.

Due to the fire at the landfill, the air, soil and water in the surrounding areas were polluted - which was a spark for the dissatisfaction of the citizens who soon demanded the complete closure of the landfill.

Since August 19, citizens and activists have blocked the delivery of new waste from seven municipalities and the city of Čačak to the regional landfill day and night, and at the beginning of November, the delivery of waste from Užice was also blocked. On November 4, the city government responded to the activists' blockades with a counter rally led by the mayor of Užice, Jelena Rakić Radivojević.

Photo: Let's (not) breathe deeply

A group of citizens arrived at the roadblock accompanied by an excavator and other machinery, and the authorities tried to break through the roadblock with an excavator. The same evening, however, the mayor announced that the story about the "Duboko" landfill was being put to an end.

"As someone who responsibly performs this function, I no longer want citizens to block and spend their time in the container as they have for the past five months. As of today, even garbage from Uzice will not be deposited at the Duboko landfill. We talked and made an agreement that garbage from Uzice will be transported to Lapovo. What the citizens of Uzice must know is that disposing of waste in this way will cost much more than it was until now, and this will be reflected in their bills," said Rakić Radivojević.

The "Duboko" sanitary landfill was officially closed on November 14, by order of the Ministry of Environmental Protection. But not before numerous irregularities regarding its management surfaced.

As it turned out, the ten-year usage permit for the "Duboko" landfill expired in 2022, so that landfill functioned as a wild dump for more than two years. The Ministry could not issue a new permit because, at the time the previous permit expired, the landfill was already unconditioned and overflowing with waste.

When "Bioktoš" goes on the field

Eight months after the mayor's promise and more than three years since the "Duboko" landfill does not have a use permit, the saga is still not over. Instead of sleeping with peace of mind, the citizens of Užice got the better of both ends in everything - although their bills have increased significantly, the city is still "suffocating" in garbage to this day.

"JKP Bioktoš does not go out on the field until it receives our invitation. Only when we put pressure on the management of the company to do their job, they go out and take away the garbage," Bogdan Radojičić from the association "Yes (No) Breathe Deeply" told Vreme.

Similar stories are circulating in Lunov village, a local community near Užice, where the fight against the landfill started. Lunovo selo consists of the villages of Ponikovica, Dobrodol, Bjelotići and Kamenica, and garbage often "overflows" from the containers in these villages. Some of the locals think that the waste is deliberately not taken away - as some kind of retaliation.

By the way, the village of Lunovo has been extremely politically and environmentally conscious since the landfill fire, and recently the first citizens' assembly was held there.

However, JKP "Bioktoš" denies these accusations - as they told "Vreme", containers with a volume of 1,1 cubic meters in Lunovo Selo are emptied every Tuesday in the second shift. On the other hand, as they say from this company, there is also a bin with a volume of 7 cubic meters in Lunovo village "whose emptying is financed by the Department of Environmental Protection, and representatives of the local community are obliged to report when it is filled so that PUK Bioktoš gets an emptying order".

As they state from PUK "Bioktoš", this does not happen often "instead, when the bin is full, they hang pictures of it and call out PUK Bioktoš that it is not doing its job".

Photo: Let's (not) breathe deeply

"That is not our obligation"

However, the rule according to which the local community is obliged to notify the utility company "Bioktoš" when the container is full is not known to Milovan Milić, president of the Lunovo Selo Municipal Community.

"The aforementioned bin is located in the village of Ponikovica on the way to Užice. We have called them several times to empty it, but it is not true that this is our obligation. I personally call them often, but other citizens also call them because that bin is always full. I will not be mistaken, they often empty it, but it is already full by tomorrow because it is on the main road. So we would have to call them every day. Anyone throws what they can into it, not only the locals." of our village", says Milić for "Vreme".

"Vreme" was also unable to find the rule referred to by PUK "Bioktoš". In the Decision on communal planning of the City of Užice, it is written only that the local community takes care of "maintaining cleanliness in rural settlements, arranging green areas, communal hygiene and the like".

"Appropriate garbage containers are installed in rural local communities, which will be emptied according to the established dynamics by the company, i.e. the entrepreneur who is entrusted with household garbage removal, with the obligation of service users to pay a fee for the service rendered," states Article 117 of the Decision.

Some containers are full, others are overgrown with weeds

What is the main problem that hinders Užice in finding a solution for waste disposal? Bogdan Radojičić from the association "Da (No) Breathe Deeply" believes that the issue is "the disinterest of the city leadership".

"On Tuesday, we had a public discussion about the 'facility' that the government plans to build on the plot of the closed landfill. It is a 'facility for the storage, treatment and transshipment of municipal waste', which in translation means a new landfill on the site of the old one. No one from the top management of the city showed up," added the interlocutor of "Vremena".

He points out that an agreement was previously reached with the city administration to build a transfer station at the site of the former landfill, but that this solution is not mentioned at all in the city's current plans.

"During the blockade, Užice was given the opportunity to dump garbage on 'Duboka' until they found an alternative solution, but they did not do it. It has never happened in history that someone defends their city, but until now it has also happened that the city leadership works against its citizens. All our requests and pleas to find an alternative solution were dismissed with scorn," says Radojičić.

By the way, in April, Užice opposition MPs and environmental activists discovered that a huge number of bins donated to Užice in 2023 with EU funds, instead of being distributed to citizens, are standing on the lot of the utility company and overgrown with weeds.

On this occasion, Vladan Sinđić from the Green-Left Front addressed the program manager for environmental protection and climate change in the Delegation of the European Union to Serbia, Antoine Avignon.

"We believe it is important for the public to be informed about this example of irresponsible management of donor funds and its consequences for the citizens of Užice and the wider region. In the letter, we expressed deep concern about the way the local government in Užice manages funds and projects financed by the EU in the area of ​​waste management," Sinđić told the Nova portal.

Photo: Let's (not) breathe deeply

"We get the impression of our inaction"

Since November, waste from Užice has been transported to the landfill in Lapovo, about 140 kilometers from Užice - which, in part, can explain the late emptying of containers.

"The removal of containers with a volume of 1,1 cubic meters is carried out according to a program where the dynamics of removal are defined, which are generally respected. Exceptionally, there is a change in dynamics in the event of a vehicle breakdown. The removal of bins from households is also carried out according to plan, and there are occasional disruptions in the work because we take waste to Čačak for transshipment, so time is lost," they state from JKP "Bioktoš".

Unlike environmental activists who seek responsibility among public officials, for this company the main problem of the city is "irresponsible behavior of individuals who uncontrollably bring bulky waste and branches from their yards to the street."

"This creates an ugly image, because when the waste deposited next to the container is picked up, a new one appears the next day, giving the impression of our inaction," the company concludes.