At the end of 2025, the Hildesheim Waste Management Association (Zweckverband Abfallwirtschaft Hildesheim, ZAH) and the municipal waste company KJKP RAD Sarajevo agreed on a partnership aimed at long-term, practical exchange of experience. The cooperation is part of the programme “Green Transformation – Promoting Circular Economy in Cities and Municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina”, which is being implemented by the Deutschen Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
At the beginning of March, a delegation from ZAH travelled to Sarajevo. The aim was to analyse the local framework conditions, meet the partners in person, and define key areas for cooperation. The participants gained a comprehensive insight into municipal waste management in the Sarajevo Canton. The focus included, among other things, the fee system, landfill management, the sorting facility, the vehicle fleet and workshop, the operation of recycling centres, as well as issues related to waste logistics and contract management.
The analysis revealed that basic structures and technical systems are in place, but in many areas there is a need for organisational and operational improvements. At the same time, there is significant development potential on which the partnership can build.
A central focus of the cooperation is the further development of the fee system. The goal is a modern system that provides incentives for environmentally responsible behaviour and enables a financially sustainable waste management in the long term. An important step has already been achieved: the reform of the fee structure, adopted in March 2026 by the Parliament of Sarajevo Canton – from a property-area-based to a per-person calculation – represents a significant advancement and demonstrates the political will to further develop the system.
The programme was complemented by discussions with other stakeholders in the waste management sector, including the dual system “Ecopak d.o.o.”. Coordination with the local GIZ project “Green Transition – Promoting Circular Economy in Cities and Municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina”, within which the partnership is embedded, also played an important role. This enabled the establishment of robust working relationships and the identification of designated contacts for further cooperation.
In the concluding workshop, the next steps were agreed: planning a return visit to Hildesheim, joint participation in IFAT 2026, and the prioritisation of key topics for the coming years. The partnership was formally confirmed with the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding by Stefan Grampe and Emir Dobrača.
Looking ahead, the partners also aim to explore how used vehicles, spare parts, and machinery from Germany can be more easily marketed to Sarajevo, in order to contribute in the short and medium term to the modernisation of technical infrastructure. Overall, the exchange represents an important step towards a sustainable, cost-effective, and efficiently organised waste management system.
