Serbia’s recycles just 15 percent of the waste it produces compared to 48 percent in European Union member states, a seminar on sustainable waste management was told on Tuesday.

Speakers said that just two percent of the recycled waste comes from Serbian households. The seminar is part of the EcoMunicipality (EkoOpstina) project which was launched by the Embassy of France, Saint-Gobain, Veolia, Decathlon, NALED and the SKGO. The European Union has secured six million Euro for the project along with another half a million from the government of Sweden and 1.8 million from the Serbian government. Four seminars are planned to be held in Belgrade and Novi Sad to help local authorities play an active role in the country’s environmental transition.

French Ambassador Pierre Cochard said that the goal of the seminar is to exchange views on the best practices at local level. He expressed the conviction that the program will prove successful in Serbia as it did in Poland and Bulgaria.

Assistant Environment Minister Sandra Dokic said that a pilot project will be launched in four regions covering 17 municipalities which generate more than 200,000 tons of waste on May 30. She said 26 vehicles and 90,000 containers will be handed out to local authorities and the public.