On the occasion of World Environment Day, the Municipality of Kotor and the NGO Green Home signed a Memorandum of Cooperation today. The cooperation will include the implementation of two initiatives, namely: “Low plastic zone” which aims to involve HORECA businesses (hotels, restaurants and cafes) in he reduction of single-use plastics and “Green public procurement” which aims to promote the strategic use of green public procurement. Both initiatives are part of the project Tckling single-use plastics in the Adriatic Sea region through public and private action, which Green Home is implementing in cooperation with MedWaves and GIZ.
“On behalf of the Secretariat for the Protection of Natural and Cultural Heritage, I support the cooperation with the NGO Green Home on the implementation of the Initiative for the Improvement of the Public Procurement System, in such a way as to include the criteria related to green public procurement, in order to reduce the use of single-use plastics in companies whose founder is the Municipality of Kotor. The municipality of Kotor expresses its readiness to implement activities that would reduce the use of single-use plastics in such a way that plastics are replaced with materials that are acceptable, in order to reduce the negative impact on the environment,” said Bojana Petković, secretary for the protection of natural and cultural heritage of the municipality. Kotor.
“I am pleased by the fact that the Municipality of Kotor has expressed its willingness to support our initiative through which we want to work in two directions. Through cooperation with hotels, restaurants and bars, we will implement the Low plastic zone and look at all possibilities for excluding single-use plastic items from use in these facilities. Additionally, we will work with the Municipality to improve the public procurement system in such a way that they include criteria related to green public procurement and thus reduce the plastic that the municipality and all institutions founded by the Municipality of Kotor procure,” said Azra Vuković, executive director of NGO Green Home.
The theme of this year’s Environmental Protection Day is exactly the tackling plastic pollution, which points to the fact that plastic pollution is a global problem, the solution of which requires an urgent response. Despite this fact, the production of plastic and plastic products is still rising. About 430 million tons of plastic are produced annually, of which 2/3 are single-use products.
According to the research The Mediterranean: Mare Plasticum, conducted by IUCN, the amount of plastic waste that is not disposed of in Montenegro is 22,911t per year. Of this amount, according to the same research, it is considered that 2,146 tons of macroplastics end up in the Mediterranean Sea annually, of which 37 tons are microplastics. Montenegro is third in the list of countries that contribute the most to the amount of waste in the Mediterranean Sea.
