I’m pleased to welcome the 10 Green Initiative representatives coming to Vermont and Washington DC as part of the first ISC Advocacy Fellows Program focusing specifically on solid waste management. This is a great opportunity for ISC and for our CSAI program in Serbia.
ISC has a long history of supporting communities to find sustainable solutions to pressing local problems like solid waste disposal. In Bulgaria, for example, we worked with both local and national citizen advocates and government officials to help them devise a strong solid waste management strategy that protected the environment and made practical sense – increasing the compliance rate among municipalities from ten to ninety percent
I’m especially excited about this particular Fellows Program because solid waste is an issue that resonates with me on a personal level. Nearly 25 years ago, I was in exactly the position that these Serbian leaders find themselves in today. In 1987, as the head of VPIRG, Vermont’s leading citizen advocacy organization, Vermont’s Agency of Natural Resources invited me to join a multi-stakeholder task force charged with drafting a comprehensive Solid Waste Management Plan for the state.
This happened at a time when environmental issues such as landfill use were getting more and more public attention. I remember that around the same time, the infamous Mobro 4000 barge was sailing up and down the Atlantic coast, trying unsuccessfully to find somewhere to deposit its load of garbage from Long Island. Here in Vermont, Madeleine Kunin’s election meant that, for the first time in over a decade, we had a governor for whom environmental issues were a top priority. Across the country, citizen and community-based efforts to change the way we handled our solid waste were finally coalescing into a coordinated movement and were getting traction in terms of changing incentives and creating a market for recyclables.
My own involvement is proof of the shift in mindset that was happening. Earlier in the 1980s, I had worked at the grassroots level, organizing a volunteer-based recycling program in the community of Barre, Vermont. Now I was collaborating with state officials and representatives from the Vermont League of Cities and Towns and the Chamber of Commerce to draft a statewide policy for managing solid waste. It was a great example of working together across sectors. We really benefitted from the strong leadership of Jonathan Lash, at the Agency of Natural Resources, who made it clear to the task force that each of us had a valuable perspective and an important role to play, and that he was committed to following through on our recommendations. At the same time, we each knew that we’d have to compromise in order to craft a policy that made sense for everyone.
The resulting law, Act 78, was groundbreaking. Before it passed, Vermont was struggling with problems very similar to what Serbia faces now—many unlined, unregulated ‘dumps’ and no coordinated effort to divert materials from landfill. Act 78 fundamentally changed the financial incentives associated with garbage disposal, and Vermont’s recycling rates jumping from 5 to closer to 35 percent. It also set more stringent requirements for landfill design and maintenance. And it encouraged Vermont towns to come together to form regional ‘solid waste management districts’ rather than each town maintaining its own town dump. I think that the Serbian Fellows will find that Vermont’s solid waste districts are a useful model for how regional solid waste management can work in practice.
Finally, I hope that our Serbian colleagues will get a sense of Vermont’s culture of active citizenship – where everyone takes responsibility for making their communities better places to work, live and play – and the strong environmental ethic that infuses the state. We look forward to showing you around.
By George Hamilton, President of ISC
Ohrabruje sto su neke jake organizacije, poput EPS (EMS), G484 ili CMV (cijeg predstavnika sam slusala na radio-Beogradu u emisiji “Cekajuci vetar” kada je pricao o projektu ‘Zelene inicijative’ koji finansira USAid), znaci i primarno ne’ekoloske’ organizacije pocele da se bave i pitanjima nase zivotne okoline.
Raduje me se sto ste se okupili (ili sto su vas okupili?) u Zelenu inicijativu, sjajno je sto je americka ambasada platila da odete u Vermont i Vasington. Dobro ce doci, a nadam se da je putovanje doprinelo i da se zblizite – zarad novih zajednickih projekata i manje otpada u Srbiji.
Ali mi se dopada i sto su ljudi sa kojima ste se susreli iskreni – i tu mislim na Nila Seldmana, koga sam i sama imala privilegiju da upoznam u Vasingtonu. Njihov (ILSR) je ispravan nacin. Poucno i inspirisuce, sjajno ako cete vi iz Zelene inicijative, jakih srpskih NVorganizacija, preneti nesto od toga u Srbiju, makar saznanje da je visestruko stetan sadasnji nacin odlaganja otpada, tzv. ‘zakopaj (otpad)’ metod, jer sve ide na deponije kod nas (burn&bury o cemu pise gore Seldman).
Srecom pa princip ‘zapali smece’ nije zaziveo kao u razvijenim zemljama; prica se uveliko da su spalionice otpada jedan od uzroka rasta incidencije raka (Studija FoE&Greenpeace-a u EU kaze 14 godina nakon postavljanja spalionice u njenoj okolini se belezi rast incidencije raznih bolesti)
Fabriku za selekciju reciklaznog otpada kakvu ste verovatno obisli u Vermontu su, saznala sam preko studija B, izgradili u Obrenovcu jer nemaju vise mesta na gradskoj deponiji. Sjajna vest.
Ali, reciklaza nije resenje uzroka vec lecenje posledice hiperpotrosackog drustva. Resenje je uzdrzavanje od kupovine i nagomilavanja nepotrebnih stvari…odrziva potrosnja, sustainable consumption (http://www.unep.org/resourceefficiency). Pre vise od pet godina (pre krize), pominjanje uzdrzavanja od potrosnje u Americi bio je jeres koji niko nije smeo da pomene taj koncept u drustvu zasnovanom na hipertrofiranoj potrosnji.
Makar mi iz Srbije vrlo dobro znamo da sreca ne zavisi od novca i onoga sto on moze kupiti.
Pitam se da li se u Americi nesto promenilo? Da li ste culi da neko pominje sustainable consumption ili, kada smo kod toga, da ce SAD potpisati CBD, Konvenciju o bioloskoj raznovrsnosti ili Kyoto protokol / UNFCC?
Nadam se da cu jos citati na ovoj ili nekim drugim stranicama o vasim utiscima sa puta, i naravno novim aktivnostima.
Srecno!
Jelena Beronja, consultant (UNEP)
(ex-MIS/YRS)
Draga Jelena,
hvala na podrsci i pozitivnoj reakciji na aktivnosti Zelene inicijative
Putovanje u Ameriku je bilo korisno iz vise aspekata, videli smo primere povezivanja vise gradova u Distrikte za upravljanje otpadom, koji predstavljaju javno-privatna partnerstva, i veoma su primenjivi i u Srbiji, posebno zbog cinjenice da su gradovi koje smo posetili u Vermontu slicni po strukturi i broju stanovnika kao i gradovi u unutrasnjosti Srbije.
U svakom slucaju, dobro je videti pozitivne primere u praksi drugih drzava, ali i nedostatke, sto pomaze u izgradnji sopstvenog modela.
Inace, Nil Seldman je i na nas ostavio neverovatan utisak, ne samo po korisnim informacijama i kontaktima koje je sa nama podelio, vec i po nacinu prenosenja iskustva, zaista je inspirativan. Nadamo se da cemo imati priliku da ga vidimo i u Beogradu
Sto se tice opsteg stava prema potrosnji evo linka za kraci film koji govori upravo o odnosu drzave, korporacija i podsticanju potrosnje http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLBE5QAYXp8 , film jeste kritican prema postojecoj sprezi ova tri cinioca, i poziva na smanjenu potrosnju, kao nacin da smanjimo kolicinu otpada koji generisemo.
Pozivamo te da i dalje pratis nase aktivnosti a trudicemo se i da bude jos vise zanimljivih tekstova na sajtu.
Veliki pozdrav od Zelene inicijative!