Recycling

Reduce, reuse and recycle
There are no public recycling facilities in Kosovo. Instead, hundreds of workers in Kosovo’s informal sector sift through garbage in dumpsters and industrial waste tips to gather plastic, metal and glass they can sell on. So if you separate your waste at home first, you will contribute in some way to the effective sorting and recycling of Kosovo’s waste. Below is a list of some recent recycling initiatives which are leading the way to a more eco-friendly Kosovo.

The Ideas Partnership recycling project
An income-generating project launched in May 2012 by the NGO, The Ideas Partnership, with funding from KFOS. 10 men from the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian neighbourhood of Fushë Kosovë/Kosovo Polje will collect recyclable plastic bottles, white printer paper and metal using a bicycle and trailer and sell it on to a recycling company. If you’re in the Prishtinë/Priština or Fushë Kosovë/ Kosovo Polje area and want your waste to be collected on an ad-hoc or regular basis, contact – P: 044 584 215 E: theideaspartnership@gmail.com

SRI Kosova
A sister company of SRI AG, Lucerne, Switzerland, collects recyclable waste such as paper, cardboard, plastic bottles, films, aluminium cans and processes and prepares them for recycling. The company is located in the industrial area in the direction of Fushë Kosovë/Kosovo Polje. Contact – P: 044 148 608 E: valdet.azemi@sri.ag

Plastika SHPK
A factory in Podujevë/Podujevo that recycles a range of types of plastic and will collect from offices/ organizations once a suitable quantity has been gathered. Contact – P: 038 534549

EnvriCon Environmental Consulting Services
Specalises in hazardous waste disposal/treatment of contaminated soil. Also collects plastic bottles, cardboard, paper and batteries (including car batteries). Contact – Ruzhdi Thaqi P: 044 194 666 E: envricon@gmail.com

Kosova Cap Project
Collect your plastic bottle caps and donate them to the Kosova Cap Project. The aim of this project is to collect plastic bottle caps and trade them with a recycling company in exchange for wheelchairs for disabled Kosovars. The wheelchairs are bought with the profits from the recycled plastic. It takes 250kg of plastic bottle caps to gain one wheelchair. For more information visit the Project’s Facebook page Kosova Cap Project

Donate unwanted books, clothes, furniture
Donate second hand books to 7Arte bookstore and cultural centre, Sheshi “Mehe Uka” Street kati: VI, Biblioteka e qytetit, 40000, Mitrovicë/a (6th floor, old OSCE building). Contact – P: 049 211 771 E: shtatearte@yahoo.com W: www.7-arte.org.

You can also donate unwanted clothes and furniture to the Kosovo Red Cross, Prishtinë/Priština branch, near Dit e Natë bookshop, Fazli Grajcevci Street no.5. Contact – P: 038 229 218

The Ideas Partnership also collects second hand clothes and hangers for a social clothes shop and clothes for donations to families in need in the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian community in Fushë Kosovë/Kosovo Polje. Contact – P: 044 584 215 E: theideaspartnership@gmail.com

Repair old clothes
To reduce waste from old clothes thrown away when they no longer fit you or have small defects, consider repairing before you replace. Kosovan tailors are very reasonably priced and there are many of them in major towns. The Ideas Partnership has also been supporting a project in the returnee village of Serbobran/Srbobran, near Istog/Istok with donated sewing machines and training. If you live or work nearby, then you can drop off your clothes for repair or arrange for collection and return in Prishtinë/Priština (though turnaround times depend on weekly visits to the village). Contact – P: 044 661797 E: theideaspartnership@gmail.com