Representatives of representative companies in the field of rubber and chemical industry, Pirot’s “Tiger”, Krusevac’s “Trayal”, “Cooper Tires and rubber”, “Elixira” Prahovo, “Elixira Energy”, “Balkan Progress”, Cooper Standard and Guma Center agreed on the need to change special waste streams in Serbia in order to make it transparent, efficient and investment-friendly.
At the expert meeting on producer responsibility towards the environment when it comes to waste treatment organized by the Association for Chemical, Rubber and Non-Metal Industry and the Center for Circular Economy of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, and in cooperation with “Trajal” in Jastrebac, company representatives pointed out shortcomings of the existing legal solution that has been applied for 10 years, especially when it comes to the amount of environmental compensation paid by the producer.
It was warned that the environmental tax at this time creates a large cost, because up to 6 percent participates in the price of certain products, as well as that part of the money from the tax is not returned to the recycling industry but ends up in the gray zone. The new system should be equally binding for all participants in the Serbian market, and the money collected from the environmental tax should be used for new investments and modernization of technologies.
A more efficient, investment system for waste management would enable, in the extended life of products, from waste rubber alone, for example, to create a hundred new products. In that way, in the industrial symbiosis, the waste of large industries becomes a raw material for small businesses in the rubber industry, says Sinisa Mitrovic, the head of the Center for Circular Economy of PKS.
The Serbian rubber industry, which has a very high development potential and brings together leading exporters, will exceed one percent with new Chinese and Japanese investments from Shandong Linglong Tire and Toyo Tires, as well as the expansion of domestic producers’ production. participation in the total world production of tires in the world.
– The companies are ready to support the realization of solutions based on the principles of circular economy in order to return rubber as a raw material to production – said Dragan Stevanovic, secretary of the Association for Chemical, Rubber and Non-Metal Industry PKS.
– The issue of extended responsibility of producers for the product they use becomes waste, the so-called scheme of collective operators. The collective operator, and according to one of the models it is an industry-owned company, would organize the collection of tires and connect market participants, solve the problem of controlling treated tires, waste that recyclers do not want to take because they do not see their interest, reduce costs for manufacturers and enabled greater newly created value – said the director of “Gumacentar”, Aleksandar Pikula.
In Serbia, about 1000 tons of waste are generated annually from batteries alone, and there is no collection of that type of waste. A serious problem is the treatment of hazardous waste, and therefore in the new decade, 2020-2030, it is necessary to make strategic changes in the introduction of the model of extended producer responsibility and new liability for damage done to the environment.
The position of the relevant ministry is that investments are necessary, but also good solutions for the best possible redesign of existing legal solutions, primarily the Law on Packaging and Packaging Waste and the Law on Waste Management from 2016, in accordance with European regulations. The goal is to solve the challenges of industrial waste treatment and greater use of by-products for new production.
The international expert also presented the solutions for the treatment of “Michelin” waste tires in Hungary to the participants of the conference “Introduction of the model of extended liability of producers and collective operators in the rubber industry,” and the Czech, Slovak and Slovenian models were also discussed, Srbija Danas.
