"Mondal" may mix ash, locals announce new complaint

The "Mondal Industrija" factory has once again received approval for the Environmental Impact Assessment Study for plants for the production of machine-made mortar and adhesives and vibropressed concrete elements, which would allow them to use non-hazardous waste - ash - in Podglavice near Spuž.

"Vijesti" has learned that this decision of the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as the previous two, will be appealed by locals living near the plant. They said last spring that cement has been sold and produced at this location since November last year, that its certificate states that it contains ash, and that they suspect that this part of the factory was built illegally, without a study and without urban planning and technical conditions (UTU)...

The "Mondal Industrija" facility, owned by Turkish investors, is located on the site of a former lime factory where the company already has plants for the production of construction materials. According to a study conducted by the "Medix" company, plants for the production of powder materials (machine mortar and adhesive) and for vibropressed concrete elements have been operating at this location since 2018, on an area of ​​91.229 square meters - while it is emphasized that the investor has an environmental permit for them.

"The location borders on locations where there are no residential buildings, but there are some at a distance of about 230 meters. The change compared to the current situation is reflected only in the introduction of non-hazardous waste ash into the existing production process. The ash is introduced as a filler to replace part of the cement and stone aggregate in the final product. The ash would be transported by tankers and stored in the existing silo, in which cement has been stored until now. This means that the project does not involve any upgrade in terms of construction, but rather uses a production line that is already functioning and has approval for an environmental impact assessment study," the document states.

This factory is located within the III protection zone of the "Rijeka Zeta" Nature Park, although "Mondal Industrija" previously announced that they were not part of it, but rather located in the local industrial zone.

Ashes from Pljevlja

The Study points out that “Mondal” crushes and obtains stone from the nearby “Maljat stone” (formerly “Mermer”) quarry, while cement is delivered by tanker and purchased from distributors. It adds that ash will be taken from the place where the Pljevlja Thermal Power Plant disposes of it or imported from other places outside Montenegro, thereby reducing the amount disposed of and producing new material.

The locals of this area are concerned about the technical and construction stone quarry of the company "Maljat Stone", which is located 300 meters from this place, as well as the quarry for extracting stone of the company "Mermer", which is about 750 meters away.

The document also states that “Mondal” regularly monitors environmental segments and that the process of using non-hazardous ash waste cannot further affect the quality of the environment. Thus, crushed material would be delivered to the facility and placed in a drum, where it would be mixed with cement, non-hazardous ash waste and lime, from which, with the use of chemicals, powdered raw materials for machine mortar and adhesive are obtained. Daily production at this location would reach 100 tons.

"During the operation of the plant for the production of powder materials, waste materials that may be generated are dust due to the mixing of raw materials used in the process of producing powder materials. In order to adequately protect the environment, a large filter system with a capacity of 25.000 cubic meters per hour has been installed within the plant. Given that these are bag filters, the dust that is withdrawn from the system is collected in bags. The bags are emptied periodically. The dust from the bag filters is filled into bags and sold as stone flour to various customers, primarily as a filler for the production of asphalt and concrete. The quality of groundwater at the project site during the execution of works may be endangered if oil, lubricants and fuel are released from the engaged machinery," the Study states.

The residents of Podglavica have already complained about the approval given by the Agency to two previous studies, at the end of October last year and in February this year, with the Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Northern Development both times canceling the "green permit" and requesting a repeat of the procedure. The ministry found that, in addition to procedural violations, not all impacts of the project on the protected area "Rijeka Zeta" were considered, nor were any protection measures proposed.