Municipal Waste Management in Republic of Srpska: Current and Future Challenges

Abstract

Waste is a by-product of human activities and living. With the increase in the number of inhabitants, the standard of living and urbanization, the quantities of municipal waste are increasing day by day. Every segment of waste management starting from generation, through collection, storage, transport, treatment and disposal can pose a potential hazard to human health and the environment. Waste management in Republic of Srpska is organized at the regional level. Since only waste disposal is still present in the Republic of Srpska, the regional approach implies that there is a landfill on the territory of one of the local self-government units, where all local self-government units in the region dispose of waste. In addition, waste disposal in illegal and unregulated landfills is still evident. LGUs or utility companies often face a lack of money to organize waste collection, with the result that not all households are covered by waste collection. In recent years, a lot has been invested in infrastructure, such as the filling of containers and containers and the purchase of new or newer used waste collection vehicles. Future directions of improving the waste management system in Republic of Srpska must go in the direction of sustainable waste management, ie waste management in a way to reduce the negative impact on human health and the environment, as well as avoiding leaving this problem to future generations.