25.04.2024.
The first waste festival was opened in Osijek - Eco City Waste Fest, catering to visitors of all ages and with various interactive and educational content on the usefulness of waste.At the opening ceremony, Luka Balen, the director of the Fund, pointed out that according to its results, Osijek's waste management system can be an example to many other cities. "The City of Osijek and its utility company, with the help of the Fund and the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development, systematically invest in the construction of infrastructure and the procurement of municipal equipment. Goals have not only been met but exceed, and I’d like to congratulate not only Osijek and the utility company, but all citizens of Osijek. In the background of all good results is education and informing, and today's event best demonstrates this," Balen said.
He also praised school children of Osijek. "Thanks to their creativity, a few days ago pupils from Ivan Filipović Elementary School in Osijek and Miroslav Krleža Elementary School in Čepin won awards at the Fund’s Modna lasta eco-competition on the topic of fashion and its impact on waste production," said Balen, adding that one of the slogans of the Fund’s campaign is “Be the change”, and Osijek's results best show how important each and veery one of us to have a successful waste management system.
"Osijek is a proud holder of the double Eco City Award. One of the reasons being that Osijek is the only large city to have exceeded the rate of 50 percent of separately collected waste, so it is a frontrunner and role model for many other towns. Citizens of Osijek separate waste at source, which is the highest standard in waste collection. Also, we are one of few cities with a sufficient number of civic amenity sites per capita, we also have our own composting plant, and we have halved the amount of mixed municipal waste", said the mayor of Osijek, Ivan Radić at the opening of the festival.
Congratulations on the achieved waste management results were also expressed by the deputy mayor of Osijek-Baranja County Josip Miletić, predicting that the festival, aimed mostly at the young, would also contribute to these results.
Igor Pandžić, the director of Osijek’s utility Unikom, said that over two days the festival events would take place in all elementary and preschools in Osijek, and through many activities show how to separate waste. “We have tried to provide a lot of activities and educational content for all young people, because this education is the reason why we have such good results in waste separation," Pandžić said.
