The Green List

Twelve nonprofits in Serbia band together with businesses, festival organizers, and even the Army to turn the tide on illegal dumping and environmental awareness.

Volunteers young and old fanned out across 15 cities and towns in Serbia this spring to collect garbage—over 525 cubic yards to date. More than 5,000 illegal dumps pepper Serbia’s parks, picnic areas, river banks and city squares. Household appliances, plastic refuse, car tires, diapers, glass and plastic bottles, barrels, and car batteries pollute the water, land, and air.

“This is the first time in 30 years I have seen someone removing the trash, not dumping it,” said a resident of Vratare, who brought his granddaughter to help out. Indeed, Oplaneti Se! is not just a clean-up campaign, but also an appeal to all Serbians to re-think how they dispose of their trash. People’s apathy towards local and national pollution of air, water, and land is a common problem for Serbia. In addition, the capacity and infrastructure of public utility companies to establish curbside garbage collection and the financial resources of local authorities to pursue waste removal remain insufficient. In one out of every three villages, the nearest garbage collection site is more than two miles away.

With this in mind, the Green List of Serbia, a coalition of 12 environmentally focused nonprofits, launched a campaign dubbed Oplaneti Se!—a combination of the Serbian expression “opameti se,” which means “be smart,” and “planeti,” which means “planet.” The phrase is being translated as “Planetize Youself.” With training and funding from ISC’s Serbia program, Green List aims to get whole communities involved in turning the tide on illegal dumping—and in the process make solid waste collection, environmental protection, energy efficiency, and recycling a national priority.

Army of Serbia and Rambo Chip In

The three-pronged Oplaneti Se! campaign began with community-wide clean-ups of illegal dumps, tree plantings, and public events in each town, kicked off by volunteers clanging spades and gathering people to the town center. The whole town is involved in the campaign—young people launch the clean-up and boy and girl scouts plant trees, the municipal public utility provides machinery, and schools stage environment quizzes. In Raška, an Army of Serbia Lieutenant-Colonel brought in a group of soldiers to clean the seven city dumps and remove the garbage around the Army Hall. And in Valjevo, well-known musician Rambo Amadeus collected garbage and cheered on the volunteers. All the while, B-92 TV broadcast the activities to a much wider audience.

At the same the time, an “Eco-Caravan” of cyclists is making the rounds of each city, spreading the word on environmental protection beginning in Valjevo and ending in Novi Sad, the site of the annual EXIT Festival that draws 200,000 people each year. Named the Best Festival in Europe in 2007, organizers are working alongside the Green List on the Oplaneti Se! campaign, organizing concerts at the clean-ups, and have committed to making this year’s event a green festival by such actions as going paperless in promoting the festival and holding environmental activities and games at the event. The most hardworking volunteers will receive awards from the stage.

Oplaneti Se! is not just a campaign. It is an appeal to Serbians to take the first step in protecting their country and the planet. Next up? Green List plans to continue collaborating on promoting further clean-ups, promoting recycling, and using renewable energy.