Recyclers in Serbia do not want to accept old tires and water heaters, because they called the new state incentives "absurd", and they say that many of them do not even comply with the law
After the state from January 1, 2026 abolished incentives for recyclers in Serbia, they stopped accepting heavy waste, which includes batteries, old tires and boilers in Serbia.
Under the pressure of a potential ecological disaster, the Ministry of Environmental Protection of Serbia prepared a new system of subsidies for waste reuse and recycling companies.
Now the recyclers claim that this new state offer does not even comply with the regulation. Some newspapers considered it absurd, like auctions to get state money.
The company Eko-sistem from Petrovaradin told NIN that they doubt that the proposed new financing model can guarantee a solution to the problem. Director of E-Recycling Ninoslav Milenkovic said that "the problem arose because the financing of waste treatment is defined by the new proposal of the regulation as state aid".
"The essence has never been in dispute: the waste generator pays, the state collects funds, controls and pays for treatment from them, without harming competition within the EU single market. That is why we believe that this is more of an accident than anyone's bad intentions and that there are solutions. In this sense, coordinated state aid has its place and its logic, but it is not intended to finance the waste industry," said Milenkovic.
He said that, when it comes to waste, the problem is not aid, but that what is needed is a stable mechanism of permanent financing of treatment and open competition, not individual or limited aid.
"Because there is enough money from waste generators, and help is not needed; the system already exists, you just need to pay for the treatment," said Milenkovic.
While waiting for the regulation to be implemented, companies dealing with waste processing are directly affected. This threatens the system that directly employs around 15.000 workers, and indirectly another 13.000.
According to the new decision, the rules for the allocation of these funds will be defined by a special regulation that will be valid in the period from 2026 to 2028. The regulation regulates in detail what types of activities will be supported, who can apply for funds, how much incentive can be awarded and under what conditions.
According to the proposed regulations, incentives will be awarded to operators engaged in the reuse and recycling of waste. These are companies that manage waste treatment and recycling facilities and that have valid permits in accordance with the regulations in the field of waste management and environmental protection.
The regulation also specifies what is considered waste that can be covered by the incentive system. Among them, above all, are waste tires from passenger vehicles, buses, trucks, motorcycles, as well as agricultural and construction machinery. In addition, incentives will be available for the treatment of waste electrical and electronic equipment, which includes devices and their components that have been discarded and are no longer in use.
Used batteries and accumulators have a special place in the incentive system, which after the end of use become hazardous waste and require special treatment and recycling.
The new system foresees a special mechanism for awarding incentives through auctions. In this procedure, interested operators will compete with each other by offering the lowest price for waste treatment per unit mass.
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