Educational and informational activities as part of project “Put the Right Thing in the Right Place” presented
26 February 2020
At today’s press conference held at Zagreb Holding’s Sljeme conference hall, the City of Zagreb presented a series of educational and informational activities about sustainable waste management, which are to be carried out as part of the project titled “Put the Right Thing in the Right Place”. The project has been designed as a way for the citizens to get informed and educated about the importance of separate waste collection and how this is done, but also with a view of motivating them to become more personally engaged in the process.
The upcoming activities and project details were presented by Tatjana Operta, Deputy Head of the City Office For Economy, Energy and Environmental Protection, Ana Stojić Deban, President of the Management Board of Zagreb Holding, Olivera Majić, Deputy Mayor of the City of Zagreb and Project Team Leader, and Jelena Pavičić Vukičević, representative of the Mayor of the City of Zagreb.
“The application for the project ‘Put the Right Thing in the Right Place’ was submitted and approved for co-financing as part of the Operational Programme Competitiveness and Cohesion 2014-2020.
This project is worth HRK 4,945,708.54 in total, of which HRK 3,600,000.00 pertains to grants co-financed by the European Union, while the remainder will be co-financed by the City of Zagreb.
At today’s press conference held at Zagreb Holding’s Sljeme conference hall, the City of Zagreb presented a series of educational and informational activities about sustainable waste management, which are to be carried out as part of the project titled “Put the Right Thing in the Right Place”. The project has been designed as a way for the citizens to get informed and educated about the importance of separate waste collection and how this is done, but also with a view of motivating them to become more personally engaged in the process.
The upcoming activities and project details were presented by Tatjana Operta, Deputy Head of the City Office For Economy, Energy and Environmental Protection, Ana Stojić Deban, President of the Management Board of Zagreb Holding, Olivera Majić, Deputy Mayor of the City of Zagreb and Project Team Leader, and Jelena Pavičić Vukičević, representative of the Mayor of the City of Zagreb.
“The application for the project ‘Put the Right Thing in the Right Place’ was submitted and approved for co-financing as part of the Operational Programme Competitiveness and Cohesion 2014-2020.
This project is worth HRK 4,945,708.54 in total, of which HRK 3,600,000.00 pertains to grants co-financed by the European Union, while the remainder will be co-financed by the City of Zagreb.
The grant agreement for the project ‘Put the Right Thing in the Right Place’ was concluded on 14 February 2019 and it is planned that the project will be realised by 7 August 2020.
The target groups of the project are all citizens of the City of Zagreb – children, young people, associations, entrepreneurs, media, tourists, employees of city authorities and Zagreb Holding Ltd. as well as employees of companies owned by the City.
The aims of the project are to educate and inform citizens in Zagreb about responsible waste management and raise awareness about the need of making an individual contribution and the citizens’ role in a comprehensive waste management system, with a particular emphasis on waste prevention, increased volume of separate waste collection, composting at home and reuse of waste.
Project activities are categorised based on both the target groups and types of communication. They include making and distributing promotional items and didactic toys, organising and holding public events, developing a mobile app, media coverage and promotion on public web portals,” explained Tatjana Operta, Deputy Head of the City Office For Economy, Energy and Environmental Protection. She also pointed out that the first activity will be putting up posters in streetcars and buses in Zagreb, which posters will promote the use of recycling centres in Zagreb.
“All project activities started a long time ago and they have already achieved certain results. We can divide them into those related to infrastructure, which has been provided by the subsidiary City Waste Disposal, and to educational activities for our service users. Regarding infrastructure, our duties are divided into those related to the infrastructure necessary to provide services at service users’ home addresses and those related to the infrastructure necessary to run recycling islands and recycling centres. Educational activities for citizens included lectures held in various public areas in Zagreb and distribution of flyers. We also organised a series of events, such as the “Eco Picnic” in Bundek Park and publishing the Zagreb Recycling Guide. All these activities led to the following results – in 2019, compared to 2018, 288,000 tonnes of waste was collected in total, representing a 0.14% increase. Furthermore, the volume of mixed municipal waste deposited at landfill sites decreased by 7.25 %. The amount of biowaste collected also increased sevenfold. The volume of paper waste increased by 47%, waste glass by 13.23% and plastic waste by 40%,” said Ana Stojić Deban, President of the Management Board of Zagreb Holding.
This project is part of the City of Zagreb’s efforts to become a leader when it comes to separate waste collection and, in doing so, to bring Croatia closer to the creation of a comprehensive waste management system similar to the systems used in the EU.
“This is a joint project of the City of Zagreb and Zagreb Holding. It was launched over five years ago and its fundamental message is reflected in its title – “Put the Right Thing in the Right Place”. This message is aimed at highlighting the fact that the City of Zagreb is sensitised to the issue of waste management. I would like to point out that the adoption of the Sustainable Waste Management Educational Activities Plan represents a legal obligation of local and regional self-government units and as such, it is an integral part of the comprehensive Waste Management Plan of the City of Zagreb. Our Sustainable Waste Management Educational Activities Plan has four fundamental communication goals – reducing waste generation to a minimum over the life cycle of products and its components, separate waste collection, composting at home and reuse of materials. However, to achieve these main objectives, we have also defined specific objectives in order to adjust them to the specific characteristics of the City of Zagreb. One of them is to inform our citizens about how they can become more engaged and involved in the process of separate waste collection. We point out that we wish to make waste prevention the most favourable approach that citizens of Zagreb can adopt,” stated Olivera Majić, Deputy Mayor of the City of Zagreb and Project Team Leader.
Planned activities will celebrate the Global Recycling Day, Earth Day, Nature Conservation Day, World Environment Day and International Plastic Bag Free Day. The events will be held on Ban Josip Jelačić Square, Petar Preradović Square (Cvjetni Trg square), Zrinjevac Park, European Square, Bundek Sports and Recreation Centre, Maksimir Park, Jarun Market, Trešnjevka Square and Eugen Kvaternik Square. In addition, a costumed play for preschool children will be held for the purpose of familiarising them with recycling and waste management as well as with the importance of separating waste properly and preventing pollution.
As part of the project, we will also distribute educational materials to preschool and primary school children, other citizens, companies and tourists. We will also develop an app which will inform citizens about proper waste sorting, help them locate recycling centres and recycling islands and provide them with an up-to-date waste collection timetable and news on waste management in the City of Zagreb.
Check out the video from the press conference at: https://youtu.be/s9pWcXL9NNk
Source: www.zagreb.hr
