#EUBeachCleanUp in Montenegro

The Delegation of the European Union to Montenegro and the EU Info Centre for the second year in a row supported the International Coastal Clean-up day (EU Beach Clean-up day) which is traditionally organised by the NGO Zero Waste Montenegro in partnership with the NGO Our Action and local partners. The clean-up action took place on Saturday 21 September in 15 locations¹ throughout 11 municipalities across the country. Some 560 volunteers cleaned the shores of lakes, rivers and the sea collecting 926 bags of waste and 240 car and truck tires.

The EU Delegation this year decided to join the cleaning action of the shores of lake Krupac, in Niksic, thereby sending the message that lakes are polluted too and need our protection as much as the oceans.

Some 50 volunteers from the local environmental organisation Ozon, local citizens, representatives of EU member states and the EU Delegation collected a large amount of waste on a field next to the lake, which each year hosts a famous music festival.

The Head of European Integration, Political, Press and Information section at the EU Delegation, Plamena Halacheva, stressed that Montenegro, as an ecological State - must be more actively involved and contribute to the fight against waste.

"It is not just the responsibility of the State because each of us must contribute. We therefore urge everybody to join the action and to protect the nature of Montenegro, by using less plastic and disposing of waste in the right place," said Halacheva.

The collected waste will be categorised and documented as part of a global initiative #BrandAudit2019.

The obtained data will be used to make recommendations to producers and municipalities on how to reduce their waste and collect, reuse and recycle it better. Summarised results of the clean-up action in Montenegro will be presented to the media on September 30th, while a full waste audit report with recommendations will be finished and published in October.

With the EU Beach Clean-up action, the EU Delegation launched the environmental communication campaign ‘Set an example. Join in!’. In the next couple of months the EU Delegation together with the EU Info Centre and many partners will organise a number of events, lectures and actions on the topic of environmental protection, climate change, urban mobility, conservation, bird protection as well as conduct an extensive media campaign calling for citizens to get involved and contribute to a cleaner environment by recycling, planting trees or cleaning up communal spaces.

1. Salina and Port Milena Channels and Long Beach in Ulcinj; Ratac peninsula in Sutomore; Katic island in Petrovac; Stoliv in Kotor; Pecka beach in Tivat; Tito’s Vila beach in Herceg Novi; Lim riverbed in Berane; Tara riverbed in the Durmitor National Park; island Sinjavac in Bijelo Polje, Krupac Lake shoreline in Niksic and several spontaneous locations