Garbage lake: every winter, pollution is swept away from landfills that overflow into the Balkan waterways

Priboj, Serbia – Trucks and construction machinery are parked at a river dam in southwest Serbia, but not for construction. Instead, huge cranes are being used to clean up tons of trash piled up at the foot of the plant. Serbia and other Balkan nations are overwhelmed by community waste after decades of neglect and a lack of efficient waste management policies in countries aspiring to join the European Union.

Burning bins can be seen on the roads, plastic bags hanging from trees and islands of garbage floating in the rivers in the region. The problem usually comes into focus in winter, when flooded water sweeps landfills, pushing garbage into hydroelectric dams.

This was the case in the Potpec accumulation lake, close to the plant, after a wave of rain and snow in December and early January. The lake’s surface was covered with a thick layer of garbage ranging from plastics to rusty metal scraps, tree trunks and even a coffin.

The garbage was swept downstream by the Lim River, which feeds the Potpec dam. Lim originates in neighboring Montenegro, passing through several municipalities and their landfills in Montenegro and Serbia.

“Based on a recent study, we found that in these cities, in the five municipalities of Montenegro and three in Serbia, about 45,000 tons of waste are collected (per year),” said Predrag Saponjic, system manager for the Rio Lim hydroelectric plant . Looking at the lake full of garbage, he added that “even if only a fraction of that garbage ends up in the Lim River, we get it”.

Environmentalists in the Balkans have warned that since most landfills are not managed properly, they leak toxic materials into rivers, threatening ecosystems and wildlife.

Bosnia has also reported an accumulation of waste that endangers the hydroelectric dam on the Drina River, near the eastern city of Visegrad. Lim is one of Drina’s tributaries, which makes its watercourses – and garbage streams – closely linked.

The two emerald-colored rivers – Drina runs along the border between Serbia and Bosnia – during the summer are preferred by adventurers and water rafters who enjoy the winding channels and seemingly untouched nature.

Although the Balkan nations struggled to recover after a series of wars and crises in the 1990s, environmental issues often come in last place for countries whose economies lag far behind the rest of Europe and where public funds are vulnerable to widespread corruption.

Jugoslav Jovanovic, of Serbia’s state-owned Srbijavode company, which is responsible for the country’s water system, attributed the waste problem to “our neglect and carelessness”. Landfills are located very close to rivers and are overloaded instead of being closed over the years, he warned.

“If we are forced to do this year after year, this is not really a solution,” he said of the clearing operation. “We must find common ground and resolve this by joining forces.”

Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia held meetings on the subject, but little was done. Balkan countries are also facing other environmental emergencies, including dangerous levels of air pollution in many cities.

Experts predict that cleaning Potpec Lake will take a few weeks, depending on the weather. However, all the water waste will end up again at a landfill in western Serbia.

Goran Rekovic, an activist from the nearby city of Priboj, said that raising public awareness of pollution is a key objective, along with “institutional and systematic” solutions. These are also necessary if Serbia and other Balkan countries want to move closer to EU membership.

“This is not an obligation of the European Union. We should not be doing this for them,” said Rekovic. “The reason why we must take care of our environment is for our own future generations.”