The Dubrivnik – Neretva county’s development agency, DUNEA, has organised two Community of Practices events in the two largest cities of the county – Dubrovnik and Metković.
DUNEA, who is also the coordinator of the Dubrivnik – Neretva pilot region within the URBAN-WASTE project has used the opportunity of a week long set of events across the county marking the Europe Day. Iva Pozniak, who is the coordinator on behalf of Dunea, pointed out that the aim of these Community of Practices events was to gather all the tourism, environment and waste management stakeholders around the same table in order to share concerns, suggest solutions and put forward examples of good practices which are already in place. ” All the data we collect from the stakeholders will be forwarded for an analysis which would help shape and define strategies the pilot cities will implement at a later stage. At the very same time, such events help us raising the awareness about the issues related to waste management”. As one of the good practices, she highlighted an association which helps people with disabilities in Metković whose members and beneficiaries upcycle warious waste by making souvenirs and other products.
Two such events took place, one in Dubrovnik and one in Metković. The event in Dubrovnik was attended by the deputy head of the environment department of the Dubrovnik – Neretva county, Nikola Veraja, who opened the Community of Practices event on behalf of the county mayor Nikola Dobroslavić. He also welcomed and supported this initiative and highlighted the necessity of organising such inclusive meetings.
For all those stakeholders in Dubrovnik who were not familiar with the project, Iva Pozniak presented the objectives of the project and the role of the Dubrovnik – Neretva county as a pilot region. Ivana Prce, who is the local Community of Practices coordinator added “the idea of the Community of Practices is to allow and enable the local community to create guidelines for waste prevention and waste managament in general in our county. This Community represents a group of people who are involved in same or similar activities on the daily basis or who are simply interested in such topics. These people not only help us understand the challenges but they also learn from each other.” She added that the Community of Practices doesn’t stop here, but it will be a continuous process in both real and online world throught the e-CoP platform. While the online platform will be a place where local stakeholder can interact at any time, 3 more events like this will be organised at a later stage.
Ivo Margeta, the head of the waste management agency presented the EU’s Waste Directive. “We joined the project upon an invitation we received from DUNEA, having in mind that we have experience and a good knowledge of different waste legislation. The Croatian waste management plan is old. The new one will follow the European directives and it will feature a circular approach to waste management. We see a systematic challenge in dealing with waste in touristic areas. Every single town in this county has this issue, whether it’s Korčula or Blato or Dubrovnik. Our entire county is a tourstic destination. We really need such a project”, Margeta explained.
Foto: N portal
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