At the annual conference of the Republican Union of secondary raw material collectors, held during the previous three days in Soko Banja, a platform of activity was adopted by the Union for the period from 2012 to 2015, defining  main goals work the Union.

In the presence of the Presidents of the municipal boards and more than 50 members of the Union  a motion platform was presented and discussion was held on current problems faced by waste collectors. It was pointed also to the international and nacionaloni institutional and legal framework of the Union activity.

Osman Balic, director of the  YUROM Center and  Saban  Salijevic, President of the Union of collectors, pointed to the current economic, technological and social problems that individual collectors are facing with, including low purchase price of secondary raw materials, lack of adequate equipment, tools and safety at work , etc.

The objectives on which the Republican Union of collectors will work on in the next three years will be formation of 20 municipal committees of the Union in Serbia, training 40 union activists who will in future work on the inclusion of representatives of individual collectors in the development and monitoring of local waste management plans, defining the position of collectors in those documents. In addition, Republican union will affect the initiation process of codification of occupations and job creation studies to the individual collectors of secondary raw material to be introduced in the nomenclature of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, as well as the adoption of protective measures at work.

The Republican union of collectors of secondary raw material supports the protection of collective interests of individual collectors who are not employed. Founded in January last year, to date it has acquired approximately 1,500 members and has established five municipal board in Bujanovac, Vranje, Prokuplje, Pirot and Nis.

Within Green initiatives campaign, YUROM Center is working on the empowerment of individual collectors of recyclable materials, building the capacity of the Republic Union of collectors, as well as supporting legalization of work of individual collectors.