EDU-CLIC

Landfills represent the third largest anthropogenic source of methane emissions globally. This is also an issue in Serbia, where waste management has been predominantly based on landfilling, thus significantly contributing to the national carbon footprint: Serbia has over 3,600 waste disposal sites which cause 60,000 tons of methane emissions annually. 

Deponie in Srem, Photo: ©Regional Development Agency Srem, Serbia

To address this issue, the EDU-CLIC project team targeted waste management staff and landfill operators and provided them with the necessary knowledge on how to make waste management more sustainable. This mainly happened by upgrading an existing sanitary landfill – a landfill where all waste is isolated from the environment until it is labelled “safe” – in the town of Sremska Mitrovica. It served both as a blueprint for future modern waste management centres in the region and as a demonstration centre. For the demonstration centre, the project team developed a curriculum that allowed training waste management operators in sustainable waste management practices on-site.

Everyone involved in the region’s waste collection and disposal processes partook in instruction and demonstration events; these events explained how landfill modernisation could contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and environmental protection. Furthermore, activities included setting up a demo plant of, first, compost for landfill covers and, second, of fuel pellets. Such pellets could serve as an affordable source of energy for poor communities while at the same time providing a more sustainable alternative to commonly used biomass fuels, thus expecting to further reduce methane emissions by 16.65 tons annually. As a blueprint for further landfill modernisation, the project’s activities encouraged the implementation of more sustainable waste management practices in the region, thus significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the future.

• Landfill as a modern demonstration centre:The operation of the Srem-Mačva regional landfill has been adapted to current requirements and generally improved. In addition, a curriculum for training landfill operators has been developed. All this has served to transform this landfill into a modern demonstration centre for the management of solid municipal waste. The curriculum for landfill employees combines theoretical and practical training, and participants use the knowledge they acquire in their everyday work over the long term. 
  • The measures taken at the Srem-Mačva regional landfill served as a model for other regional landfills with the aim of making their operations more efficient and environmentally friendly in the long term. 
• Using biomass protects the climate: The collection and processing of 317 tonnes of agricultural biomass saved 44 tonnes of CH₄ emissions. 300 tonnes of biomass were processed into 70 tonnes of fuel in the form of pellets and briquettes and delivered to those in need before the heating season. 17 tonnes of biomass were used as compost. These measures combined climate protection with social impact.