It has been almost a year since more than a hundred tons of textile waste from Italy was imported to the Drvar area, and there is no epilogue to that story yet. Reacting to yesterday’s announcement of the Ministry of Labor, Health, Social Welfare and Displaced Persons of Hercegbosna County (HBŽ), which states that the ministry will take “certain activities to determine the harmfulness to human health, as well as the harmfulness of the waste for environmental pollution.”
Dusica Runic told Fena news agency that half a year ago she asked the Government of HBZ to start activities related to this problem and that she is still waiting for an answer. She reminded that in July 2020, from several locations in Drvar and Bosanski Grahovo, the company “Krom
According to the import documentation, this waste was intended for recycling, because according to the law, only waste intended for recycling can be imported in BiH. However, the waste importer does not have a facility where this could be done and the waste is still located in the Drvar area.
In the meantime, the Municipality of Drvara has completed the tender for the selection of a company that will dispose of the waste and a contract has been signed with the contractor – a company from Lukavac.
”Every day we expect the realization to start, and the deadline for performing the works according to the tender is 120 days. This has been our request since the beginning of the agony,” Runic pointed out.
She once again called on the competent authorities to end the investigation so that the Municipality of Drvar could file a lawsuit against those responsible.
”We are also requesting the annulment of the environmental permit issued by the Ministry of Construction and Physical Planning and Environmental Protection of the HBZ, on the basis of which the import was approved. We insist on establishing the criminal responsibility of the importer and reviewing the legality of the disputed decision, to which we filed a complaint with the HBZ Prosecutor’s Office in July last year. However, we have an answer from the Prosecutor’s Office from a month ago that the investigations are still ongoing,” Runic pointed out.