Extreme heat reactivates sawdust landfill in Pljevlja

Due to high temperatures, the former sawdust and wood waste landfill of the Forest-Industrial Combine "Velimir Jakić" in the Pljevlja settlement of Radosavac has once again spontaneously ignited.

Thick smoke is billowing from inside the landfill, spreading in all directions, which has reopened the issue of one of the city's long-standing environmental problems.

The president of the Ecological Society "Breznica", Milorad Mitrović, has repeatedly warned that the interior of the landfill has been burning continuously for decades, releasing toxic smoke and harmful particles that further worsen the air quality in Pljevlja.

"The landfill is more than 50 years old and after the plundering privatization, it belonged, along with the plants of the former Yugoslav giant, to the company 'Vektra Jakić', which left behind only debts and a huge natural wealth. The landfill is constantly collapsing and is not safe. Smoke, gases and steam, which are the products of combustion, are released from underground, vertical cracks. On several occasions in previous years, attempts were made to shut down the landfill, but all attempts were unsuccessful," said Mitrović.

Wood waste has long since been disposed of at the landfill, but it has never been rehabilitated.

"The landfill has more than a hundred holes from which smoke rises even higher than from chimneys. It has been left to its own devices and represents yet another in a series of environmental problems in Pljevlja. After the privatization of ŠIK 'Velimir Jakić', it remained unclear who was obliged to remediate this landfill and move its contents to a more acceptable location," said Mitrović.

He adds that the landfill is completely unprotected and that there is no protective fence around it, which is why it poses a danger to citizens.

The Ecological Society "Breznica" called on the authorities to finally solve the decades-old problem of the pilot landfill in Radosavac and oblige those responsible to carry out its rehabilitation and permanently remove the threat to the environment and the health of citizens.