Waste - State and impacts (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Waste represents one of the main environmental issues in BiH with issues arising mainly due to the inadequate management, lack of infrastructure and social attitude towards waste. The current problem of insufficient waste disposal system capacities has led to considerable quantities of waste being dumped illegally at roadsides, in rivers, abandoned mines, and similar places, posing threats to public health and the environment. No waste incineration facilities are currently operated in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Recyclables separated from the mixed municipal waste amount to less than 5 % of the total municipal waste mass (estimate), while at least 95 % of the collected mixed municipal waste is disposed of mostly on non-sanitary disposal sites.

BiH is a potential candidate country for EU accession following the Thessaloniki European Council of June 2003. On 16 June 2008, the EU and BiH signed the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA). As a country in transition, Bosnia and Herzegovina is faced in the post-war period with numerous social, economic and other problems, among which the issue of environmental protection stands out as one of the most crucial. In the pre-war period, the basic natural resources – water, air and soil – of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as the centre of heavy industry and as the Republic providing raw materials and energy that served as the basis for the economic development of former Yugoslavia, were subject to serious pollution. Large surfaces, above all those in urban areas, were exposed to various forms of pollution, due to expansion of construction and building, manufacturing industry and power industry (mines and large power facilities).

The responsibility for waste management policy and legislation is shared between entity ministries responsible for the environment and corresponding cantonal ministries in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH). The main waste legislation consists of the Law on Waste Management of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Official Gazette FBiH 33/2003) and the Law on Waste Management of Republic Sprska (Official Gazette RS 51/2002) which are almost identical. They are harmonized with EU Decision 94/904/EEC and EU Directive 91/689/EEC and cover the management of all kinds of waste following the underlying basic principles of EU environmental policies.