RECYCLING AS A CORE ELEMENT OF GREEN WASTE MANAGEMENT: A CASE STUDY IN MACEDONIA

Recycling as an essential element of green waste management significantly contributes to solving the waste problems. It contributes to sustainable use of natural recourses and protection of ecosystems. Waste has been becoming one of the major problems of contemporary living, on the local, regional and global level and on the other hand, it is one of the main future challenges. Waste in Macedonia is one of the largest environmental problems. Generation of all types of waste has been increasing, but recycling does not follow the level of generation. Taking into account that in Macedonia, it is only one landfill, which meets environmental standards, the significance of recycling becomes grater. Since 2004, Macedonia has been making efforts to harmonize waste regulation with the Union’s regulation, which gives relatively successful results, but there is a huge problem with the implementation. There are some results in recycling of plastics and metal, but recycling of glass, paper, electronic waste, and wood is still in an early stage. Investments in recycling and in new green technologies are very low. The aim of this paper is to analyze the current situation and to put lights on the future possibilities in the area of recycling. For the purpose of this paper, it was made a research, which makes efforts to give some figures about generation and recycling of different types of waste, with recommendations for the future activities.