CG without plastic bags: "It's a shame that such a beautiful nature is full of garbage"

The average resident of Montenegro annually uses and discards more than 600 plastic bags, which are not recycled in Montenegro, so they end up either in nature or in landfills.

Montenegro without plastic bags is the first of a series of planned initiatives of the movement of the country with minimum waste - Zero Waste Montenegro, one of the founders of which is Alexandra Aubertin from the Netherlands.

It is also in progress online petition signing, which will be sent to the Montenegrin Government, with a request to ban the use of plastic bags.

"Banning the use of plastic bags is perhaps a somewhat aggressive step which, we expect, should lead to a reduction in the amount of plastic waste we create. This is a measure whose indirect effect is equally important - most of the problems we encounter in the municipal waste management sector are caused by the careless behavior of an individual who is completely emotionally and morally distant from his actions. Consciously choosing to use bags and cloth bags, instead of plastic bags, today is a matter of awareness of the individual, but also a clear message that he is ready to behave like a citizen in the original sense of the word," said Maša Tomković, a member of the Zero Waste Montenegro team, about the action.

Her colleague Alexandra, upon arriving in Montenegro a few years ago, thought that she had come to an incredibly beautiful country. But disappointment soon followed...

"I thought what a shame it is that such a beautiful nature is also so full of garbage. Even today, I am confused that a country that proudly declares itself as the first ecological in the world, does not take the most basic measures to prevent such destruction of nature with waste", said a volunteer of the Dutch branch of the Greenpeace movement to "Vijesta".

Thus, within the first month after her arrival, Alexandra's activism began in Montenegro as well. When she then met the European team of the Zero Waste Foundation in Brussels, realizing that they had no members in Montenegro, she decided to create a local initiative. The team members' willingness to learn and their previous experiences are of great help, he says. Additionally, it helps that through other Zero Waste initiatives they can gain access to resources to combat the waste problems that many other countries have faced in the past.

It seems that the most difficult thing in solving the problem will be to change the habits of Montenegrin citizens.

"Changing the mentality is the key solution to the problem. "Citizens must understand that they must take responsibility for waste management if they want to leave a habitable Earth for their descendants," she said.

Tomković, who has experience working in the NGO Green Home, and participated in the formation of Coalition 27, whose goal is the joint work of the civil sector and the government in the EU accession process in the most demanding area of ​​Chapter 27 - life, agrees that habits are difficult to change. the middle.

"Changing habits is difficult, it is even more difficult if it is not our decision and desire, but some legal regulation forces us to do so. That's why I vote for educating the population about this common problem, especially the youngest. The effect may be slow, but it is multiplicative and long-term," she said.

Members of the Zero Waste team encounter numerous difficulties in the field, and one of them is how to actually educate citizens about the importance of separate waste disposal, if a sufficient number of places for such a thing have not been previously provided.

"It's the same as teaching them how to react in the event of an earthquake - they know all the steps, although they don't often have the opportunity to apply it in practice," believes Tomković. Over 10 containers for selective waste disposal were installed in Podgorica more than 600 years ago. Citizens, however, continued to dispose of garbage in "classic" containers - or next to them. Garbage is still only sorted in the recycling center, within the Podgorica landfill.

Members of the Zero Waste team plan to teach every individual in Montenegro what their role is when it comes to waste management.

"Zero Waste is the fastest growing movement in the world, whose goal is to reduce the production of waste to a minimum. Our role is to explain to each individual how he can contribute and what to do," says Aubertin.

Certainly, as he adds, citizens are not the only ones responsible for the waste we produce and what happens to it. “Companies create products and packaging that cannot be recycled, that cannot be composted, and bear even greater responsibility for the waste problems that humanity faces today. Therefore, Zero Waste is closely cooperating with the European Commission in order to change the law. Zero Waste also supports companies to redesign their products and packaging and make them part of the circular economy," she said.

In the end, as she added, the Montenegrin Government has the main role in the implementation of the right regulation and law enforcement.

"If the use of plastic bags has been banned in Rwanda for years, why can't a small country like Montenegro do the same".

Aubertin started her activism in Cambodia

Alexandra's interest in waste management began 13 years ago, in Cambodia, where she was a volunteer in AIDS prevention activities.

"One day I was asked to help children who were working at a landfill near Phnom Penh. I couldn't believe it when I saw children who spend 10 hours a day searching the garbage with their bare hands or hooks for waste that can be recycled. None of them went to school, and they received a few euro cents a day for the collected waste. Searching through garbage, they were often injured and the environment was very conducive to the spread of infection. However, I was impressed by their smiling faces. Those kids were happy to be there. It was a life lesson for me, I saw how they simply accept a difficult life. And that was a turning point in my life and career," said Aubertin.

After that, she decided to study environmental management, and went to Kenya, where she worked with a local NGO on the development of waste recycling in one of their villages.

Biodegradable plastics can lead to pollution of life

The Zero Waste initiative notes that biodegradable plastic products are not a solution either.

"The vast majority of biodegradable plastics can only be broken down under extremely specific conditions, constant high temperature and humidity in industrial composting installations, and are not suitable for composting in home conditions, nor do they break down within a reasonable period of time from when we discard them," they state on the website. .

They also add that oxo-degradable plastic is widely used in Montenegro, which can contribute to microplastic waste reaching the sea and thus significantly increase the risk of animal contamination. They also say that many biodegradable plastics cannot be broken down in the intestines of marine species.

According to Zero Waste Montenegro, biodegradable plastic should mean plastic that can be broken down by microorganisms from water, CO2, methane (CH4) and preferably non-toxic residues.

She explained how not to produce waste

Katarina Kaličanin from Podgorica described on the Zero Waste page what everyday life looks like in which an individual produces a minimum of waste.

She first read about everything on the blog of a girl who, two years before that, lived literally without producing garbage.

"I wondered how he eats, because I couldn't imagine buying food without packaging," says the Kaličanin.

She started her "zero waste" journey last fall, trying to reduce waste to a minimum.

"I started by first stopping using plastic bags. It's funny how they package our products at the registers by putting each one in a different bag. "Instead, I started using a bag or a backpack when I go to the grocery store," she says.

The way to reduce waste is also the decision to consume fruit instead of sweets. The Kaličanin started buying groceries in the refuse, packed in recycled paper. He even buys washing and cleaning products in the same way in a specialized shop not far from the Red Cross, in Podgorica.

"They have liquid soap, laundry detergent, and all other cleaning products, of the same quality as those in large supermarkets. The difference is that these products come in cheaper packaging or you can bring the packaging yourself".

They sell bags so that citizens can use them instead of bags

As it is almost impossible to find reusable bags in Montenegro, or they are expensive, the Zero Waste Montenegro initiative launched a website through which citizens can order bags made exclusively from recycled plastic.

"The price of ceger is its production price. With this, we want to encourage and make it easier for those citizens who want to give up the use of payment bags to get to those cegers," said Tomković.

Reusable bags can be ordered through the official website of the Zero Waste Montenegro initiative - zerowastemontenegro.me.

In Zero Waste, they cooperated with the Podgorica Landfill, where they will try to contribute to a more efficient selection of waste with their experience. One of the plans until the end of 2018 is to support a municipality to become the first Montenegrin municipality without waste.

"For now, we are working without a budget, but we are looking for grants that will support our plans," said Aubertin.