We need recycling and waste utilization

Mimoza Nestorova-Tomic

Waste significantly pollutes nature and our immediate living environment and therefore is our greatest everyday problem – state, city and individual. This type of problems can push us into a major ecological crisis, and it has already been detected in Skopje and Tetovo, while in Struga and other places – it is alarming and is a preoccupation of the public media, but without any feedback. We’ve been closing our eyes before it for years, although the consequences are visible and very dangerous for the health and survival of people.
On the other hand, waste has become interesting and valuable as a raw material. Not that it is unknown to us that rich countries are constantly thinking of ways to cope with waste, hiring institutes and professional staff who are tasked to find a systematic and quality solution.
Urban plans are factors in the ecological crisis due to the density of buildings, the profile of the streets, outdated infrastructure etc. The architectural projects also ignore the evacuation of the waste. This problem is neglected, although the more developed countries have been using disposal units for organic soft waste, which are appliances installed in the kitchen sinks, for quite a while. France, for example, has been using this system since the 1970s. Recycling also hides great potential for providing raw materials. Neighboring countries are procuring technology and starting the recycling system. Waste as raw material has great effects in the industry, and recycling requires a lot of organization and synchronization among large companies that collectively gather the raw material and deliver it to the respective processors. Through their bills, our Vero markets tried to educate consumers with the following message:
“One ton of recycled paper saves 17 trees,
A ton of recycled aluminum saves 6,000 liters of oil
Recycling a glass bottle saves energy that will keep a 1W lightbulb working for four hours.” The message ends with the request: “Select and recycle”.
In order to carry out recycling, there should be production programs, simple plants, machines, where the material will be recycled, that is, factories where the waste will be processed. It is known that the city is drowning in waste of glass, paper and other useful materials kept in basements. The daily hygiene of the city requires timely evacuation of waste, washing the streets, as well as hygiene by the users of public services, as well as shopping facilities, hospitals and ambulances.
The gas emitted from the soft waste structure also requires selection. Including an expert firm will help move the problem from status quo, and hence gain experience and all possibilities offered to us by technology and the house management of all possible resources will be revealed. In doing so, the professional staff in Macedonia should not be neglected, which unfortunately does not have the opportunity to technologically help the country, because there are no institutions through which they can use their knowledge. All countries are struggling technologically to keep up the pace, improve their image for their country and escape from the category of underdeveloped technology countries. The only thing Macedonia needs is good organization and engagement of the professional staff to quickly advance from this aspect. Japan, for example, called for the total retired staff, according to the vocational qualification, to apply for active participation in the rebuilding of the country. In China, on the other hand, gas from livestock septic waste is used in the households, so that every household with primitive technology uses this gas for cooking, lighting and even heating in rural areas.
The expert magazine Pressing devoted an entire issue exclusively to measures that would save energy, by applying materials in construction to prevent and improve energy consumption. These are not advertising articles, on the contrary, they are reliable and studiously created texts. Startling is the fact how much of our money is flowing out of the country for purchasing all kinds of things, and mostly for importing glass packaging. Users of this product, if they want to be more reasonable, should find a way to invest here in the country, because now all we do is invest in the countries from which this glass packing is imported. In England, several suburban zones get heating by using waste as a fuel, while Sweden heats a whole region with the same technology, and now even imports waste. We have so much waste that we can create a sensation and the entire country could be heated by it. As a country, we have a large number of highly educated professionals, a number of doctors of science, masters, professors and middle professional staff who need to engage and contribute to the technological advancement of the country.
The pollution problem in major cities is particularly alarming, so it is necessary to carry out a serious country-wide examination and create a map of pollutants, their use for making fuels, so it may be possible to substitute electricity and achieve a lot more with the recycling system.
The action for installing filters in industrial plants polluters is expensive for the owner, but it is not more expensive than the health of the residents. In all urban plans, in the past, there was a clause on the type of industrial production, what kind of pollution is releases and the distance from which the plant needs to be built. In the industrial zones near the city, the recommendation was to build small food production plants, as well as plants with modern harmless technology.
Particular attention should be paid to Tetovo, where the situation is alarming, and the polluted air enters the city of Skopje along the course of river Vardar. Generally, it is necessary to detect large pollutants and take urgent measures, because the air polluted is a fluid that has no limits of movement. The pollution sources are known: the metal processing industry and landfills, whether urban or rural, are equally dangerous. The map of polluters of Macedonia should be urgently done. These pollutants should be specifically categorized, a methodology for fighting these pollutants should be developed, with priorities, as well as parallel activities.

(The author is an architect and urban designer. She played a significant role in the masterplan and reconstruction of Skopje after the 1963 earthquake)