Waste management in European way - A.S.A. Eko invests €15 million in landfill in Kikinda

When it came to Serbia in 2006, A.S.A. Eko was the only company ready to build landfills in line with strict standards of the European Union. This international waste management company today renders its services to about 110,000 people and over 1,300 legal entities in Serbia. During two years of its operations in our country prior to the adoption of a set of environmental laws governing the treatment and management of waste, A.S.A. had built two landfills for communal waste, completely in accordance with the European standards.

Landfills in Kikinda and Lapovo were put in operation in 2008 and 2009, respectively, and the work on these projects is still underway. In an interview for eKapija, Ljubisa Niksic, representative for communications at this company, says that the plan is that both landfills become regional.

- We expect Becej and Ada to start disposing of their waste at the regional landfill currently used only by Kikinda because a regional waste management agreement has been recently concluded between these municipalities. They are currently in the procedure for approving the regional plan for waste management, after which our landfill will officially acquire the status of a regional landfill, pursuant to current laws. It was built from the very start to accept all waste coming from that region, so that it may also be put at the disposal of some other municipalities in addition to aforementioned ones, such as Novi Becej, Zitiste and others.

Over EUR 5 billion have so far been invested in this landfill and, according to the project, another EUR 15 million are planned to be invested until 2032.

- The project development will run parallel to the implementation of investments because this project is being implemented in phases. According to the plan, what follows is the construction of new cassettes for the landfill and a waste management center, which will be equipped with new waste treatment lines.

The landfill Vrbak in Lapovo spans nearly 22 hectares. A.S.A. Vrbak renders services of communal waste collecting and disposal for the municipalities of Lapovo, Batocina, Despotovac and Raca, whereas Topola only disposes of its waste at this landfill. According to Niksic's words, the company serves over 50,000 people and 676 companies in this area.

Safe landfills

With two landfills built in Serbia, A.S.A. currently has a total of 24 landfills in Europe, some of which are over 20 years old. These landfills are completely safe for the environment.

- What lies underneath the landfill is a PHDM foil with a sensor system registering all abnormalities. When a change occurs, sensors start the alarm, thus enabling us to react immediately and solve the problem. That is why ecological disasters never occur at our landfills. On the other hand, since we take care of disposed waste, we collect gas and other resulting matters in order to prevent fire.

Services

For the time being, A.S.A. Eko in Serbia offers services of waste collecting, treatment and disposal to citizens and municipalities, and there is also a special set of services such as maintenance of green areas, road management and cleaning, winter and summer maintenance of roads, etc. Among the users are companies, small entrepreneurs and market chains that either outsource or directly use the services of waste management, which is, in such chains, primarily related to secondary raw materials.

The services of the company A.S.A. are also used by the industry, and the company disposes of industrial waste regardless of whether it is hazardous or not.

Humanity

A.S.A. Eko has recently taken over the project that the Republic Fund for Displaced Persons implemented in association with UNHCR in Vojvodina's municipalities over the period of one year.

- It is a project aimed at assimilating displaced persons from Kosovo in Kikinda who were donated funds by the Fund and UNHCR to buy equipment to engage in the primary waste selection on the territory of the city. Their activities ran parallel to ours because we do that same job based on an agreement with the city of Kikinda. When the project expired, people at UNHCR and the Fund contacted us to check if we can find a solution, and we've decided to hire them. There are four of them, and we are now working on their employment contracts.

Plans

A.S.A. Eko now employs 100 people, and the plan is to hire a total of 150 workers at the landfill Vrbak and 130 people at the landfill in Kikinda until the end of the project. Niksic foresees that the number of employees may be doubled in 2012, but that all depends on the fulfillment of the company's plans.

- Regardless of how advanced machinery you possess, the essence of business success in our industry lies in men. With the progress of technology, the need for jobs is reducing in all other industries. That is why we can expect to create new jobs once new services are developed. The state foresees that 10,000 people will be employed in this industry, and we agree with that. Prospects are huge, and the only question is how much time will pass until that happens.

People at A.S.A. expect the regionalization of landfills, envisaged by the republic strategy, to lead to the construction of over 20 new landfills on the territory of Serbia.

A.S.A. International was founded in the early 1980's as an Austrian company. It today operates in 9 countries in Europe, has over 4,500 employees, registers the annual turnover of about EUR 320 million, and renders its services to over 5m people.

The company presented itself in Serbia at this year's Energy Fair, which was held between October 12 and 14 at the Belgrade Fair, where municipalities and other potential users were able to get familiar with the assortment of services offered by the company A.S.A.

I.B.