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Sjenica, a town in Western Serbia, is surrounded by nature reserves on all four sides. One of these nature reserves is the Uvac Special Nature Reserve – home to the largest griffon vulture colony, a protected bird species nesting in this region. Being an area favourable to animal husbandry, sheep in particular, Sjenica is also famous for its eponymous cheese, as well as other specialities such as sujuk (a type of spicy sausage) and mantije (stuffed filo pastry), but also for its hospitality. Because of its unique natural beauty and its authentic local cuisine, the Sjenica region is attracting many tourists. This is why a number of locals have turned to tourism as their source of income in this, still underdeveloped, municipality.

Among them is Edina Puljić, an entrepreneur. Having spent years working in Western Europe she and her family returned to Sjenica and set up an ethno household.

– All our guests are presented with an authentic souvenir – bio soap. To remember us by and to come back and stay with us again. I make this soap using leftover cooking oil – Edina says.

Edina’s household is one of around 500 households in the region of Sjenica, from a total of over 2.000 households around Serbia, that are a part of BIO IDEA for Sustainable Development association’s social franchise. This association focuses mainly on women of different ages to teach them how to make home-made soap using leftover cooking oil from their households to generate additional income and save money. This opportunity is particularly interesting to women living in Sjenica, where the poverty risk index stands at 46.6%. At the same time, these workshops bring together women from different ethnic groups as this is an ethnically diverse area, with Bosniaks, Serbs, Albanians, Montenegrins, Turks, Roma and members of other communities living side by side.

Sanida Klarić, founder of BIO IDEA for Sustainable Development, says that the soap making workshops are primarily intended for women from difficult-to-employ categories such as women living in remote rural areas or women living in towns who became unemployed and are over the age of 45.

– Households in Serbia consume around 2,300 tonnes of cooking oil every month, of which one third ends up in nature. We recognised an opportunity to use the leftover cooking oil as a raw material for home-made soap production in social entrepreneurship workshops for women around the country – says Sanida.

Workshops are held in village households which traditionally make dairy products, handicrafts and fruit- and vegetable preserves, so manufacture and sale of bio soap can represent an additional activity for them. Training is free and the only condition for joining a workshop is solidarity to pass on the skills they have acquired to others.

In addition to contributing to economic empowerment of women, the manufacture of bio soap is also beneficial for the environment of the Sjenica region by reducing the quantity of waste ending up in its landfills. The Municipality of Sjenica has also recognised the importance of this initiative and has decided to support its further development by forming a soap manufacture cooperative.

BIO IDEA has reached other parts of Serbia as well. An entrepreneur from Zemun, Nataša Dokić, makes bio soap in her own home. Her main motivation is to protect the environment.

– I looked for ways of making my own contribution, in addition to recycling glass, paper and other types of waste, and making a difference, in my own home at least. That was when I discovered these leftover cooking oil recycling workshops. My family and I use the soap I make for any cleaning that needs to be done around the house – says Nataša.

In addition to good will and a bit of learning, if you want to make soap you also need proper equipment. The equipment was patented by BIO IDEA with the help of their partners – The Institute of General and Physical Chemistry and Ekoera company. The equipment consists of two recipient containers made from recycled materials, connected with a mesh for the oil to go through. It uses zeolite as filter to retain water and other impurities and obtain purified oil. Sodium hydroxide is then added to the purified oil which kick starts the process of saponification. Coffee, orange peel or dried herbs can be added to the mixture to enhance the soap fragrance. And 24 days later, the soap is ready to be used.

The advantage of bio soaps when used on skin is that they contain no allergens or preservatives. They are also good for the environment because they are biodegradable and their use does not impact the environment nor does their manufacture emit any noxious gases. For example, one litre of used cooking oil is enough to produce 10 bars of soap. This also saves 3.8 kilograms of Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions if they were to be produced industrially. For example, that is the amount of CO2 emitted by a brand new car travelling from Belgrade to Pančevo and back.

– It benefits both man and nature if we use natural instead of industrial soap, whose production and distribution requires oil derivatives. Our tradition teaches us not to throw anything away. People have been making their own soap for centuries – says Sanida Klarić, while getting ready the next shipment of bio soap from her workshop in Belgrade.

This type of soap production promotes circular economy approach to entrepreneurship as well as in our own households. By reusing leftover cooking oil as raw material for a new product, we reduce waste that would normally end up in waste water systems or in landfills and further pollute the environment.

Check out a video story on this valuable initiative HERE.

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“Accelerating Circular Economy” project was selected as one of the six best solutions under the “Bio-waste Management Challenge Call” organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Ministry of Environmental Protection, with the support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). The goal of this challenge was to support the implementation of innovative solutions for management of food waste and kitchen waste, as well as green waste from parks and gardens and contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gases (GHG) emission and pollution, as well as the development of the circular economy in Serbia.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) awarded today the most successful innovators who have put into practice the solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, making Serbian towns and municipalities more resilient to climate change.

These solutions were implemented thanks to the support of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Serbia by 500,000 tonnes of CO2, the equivalent of reforesting 145 football stadiums or planting 115,000 trees. The awards were given to 11 innovation teams from the public, private, civil and academic sectors, and six local self-governments.

The ceremony was officially opened by Ms. Sandra Dokić, Assistant Minister of Environmental Protection, and Mr. Miroslav Tadić, UNDP Team Leader for Environment and Climate Change.

“The awarded projects have shown that Serbia is rich in innovation, not only in the private and public sectors, but also in our scientific institutions and civil sector organizations (CSOs). These solutions are already showing a great impact in local communities,” said Ms. Dokić. “In addition, the Ministry has put a lot of effort into gathering data relevant to climate change from local self-governments and the private sector, and we will continue to work on this through our unified IT system. Only when we have accurate data can we plan our activities, allocate funds for their implementation, and monitor the impact of implemented measures.”

“Innovations whose implementation we have supported and which we are awarding today contribute to the protection of the environment and to the creation of new green jobs. In this way, we are helping Serbia mitigate the impact of climate change on its society and economy,” said Mr. Tadić.

The awards for Innovation Leaders were given to the Public Utility Company “Toplana-Šabac”, the companies Esotron, Jugo-impex E-reciklaža, Green Energy Point, Sanicula, Telefon – Inženjering and Global Sustainability Experts, the Institute “Mihajlo Pupin” and the Institute for Multidisciplinary Research, the CSO National Association of Autonomous and Electric Vehicles, and the City of Kraljevo.

The implementation of their solutions will increase the energy efficiency of district heating, increase the share of renewable energy sources (biomass, biogas and solar energy) in the overall energy mix, contribute to digitalization and resource conservation in agriculture, using waste to produce new products, fertilizers and energy, introduce circular business models, promote sustainable transport, purify the air in urban areas, and provide an early warning system to prevent forest fires. These solutions have also created 35 new green jobs.

The total value of funds invested by the awarded teams in implementing innovative solutions, with co-financing from the Global Environment Facility and the Ministry of Environmental Protection, amounts to around $11 million.

The innovation awards were also given to six Serbian local self-governments: Kragujevac, Kruševac, Kraljevo, Niš, Šabac and Sremska Mitrovica. They were awarded for implementing IT systems for collecting open data on greenhouse gas emissions and for preparing local low-carbon development plans. The IT systems and the development plans will provide these cities with better insight into data on greenhouse gas emissions in the areas of energy, transport, waste management, agriculture and

forestry. This data will be used to monitor measures for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and to better plan new measures in the future.

Finally, special prizes were awarded in the following categories: Contribution to the reduction of carbon footprint – won by Jugo-impex E-reciklaža from Niš, Best digital solution – won by the Public Utility Company “Toplana-Šabac”, Greatest impact in the local community – won by CSO Bio Idea, and Best innovation – shared by the Institute for Multidisciplinary Research and the Institute “Mihajlo Pupin”.

All the awarded innovations were implemented within the Climate Smart Urban Development project, which UNDP has implemented over the past five years, in partnership with the Ministry of Environmental Protection and with financial support from the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

In cooperation with the locals of the Stara planina mountain villages Dojkinci and Temska, as well as the town of Pirot, the Elektropionir Energy Cooperative launched the “Solarna Stara” campaign for crowdfunding the construction of cooperatively owned solar power plants. The total income made from solar power plants, as the first cooperative owned one’s in Serbia, will go to these local communities.

We invite you to help this campaign with you donation to install two solar power plants of 5 kWp, each on the roofs of the Temsko Local Community building and the Dojkinci Cultural Center. All annual income from these power plants for the next 25 years will go to local associations and organizations that contribute to community life.

The total value of the project is 1,680,000 dinars and Elektropionir and donors have already collected half of the funds. Of the other 840,000 dinars necessary for the construction of solar power plants, almost half has already been collected, and the campaign will last for the next 16 days.

You can support campaign in several ways:

– with online donation on https://www.donacije.rs/projekat/solarna-stara/

– by payment to the current account of the Energy Cooperative Elektropionir

– sharing information sanou the campaign on social media

More information about the project on  https://elektropionir.rs/kampanja-solarna-stara/

Outside the village of Belegiš, a dusty road across dry, cracked land, surrounded by dried maize fields, leads to a green oasis on the field crop farm of Nikola Lončar. This farmer, born and raised in Belegiš, is the first one in Serbia to embark on the adventure of digitizing the fields where he grows vegetables for sale. One of the reasons for pioneering this approach in Serbian agriculture is the high risk brought on by droughts in recent years.

The scale of the risk is witnessed by the fact that in 2021 Serbia broke a dismal record for high temperatures by recording the hottest month of June in the past 100 years.

– It has been increasingly unstable in the past five or six years, or even longer. The climate is changing year after year. Rainfall is irregular. It is too high in the spring, and non-existent in the summer when it is needed most. During my time as a farmer, we never had total damage to crops like we did four years ago – explains Nikola.

It was in that same year that Nikola made contact with experts from Mihajlo Pupin Institute of Belgrade, from whom he procured the smart device Mobisan – a mobile solar power generator. Mobisan was developed by a multidisciplinary team of engineers and crop scientists, specifically for small and medium-sized family farms, since over 95 percent of Serbia’s registered farms have under 10 hectares of land.

– The device is a combination of sensor and computer networks. It includes sensors in the soil, a digital weather station and a computer system that wirelessly collects information about microclimate and soil. On the basis of the information collected, it automatically irrigates the field and adds fertilizer, or transfers the information to Nikola through a mobile app, so that Nikola could adjust water and nutrient dosage for the plants. Mobisan can be operated remotely and is designed to streamline the use of natural resources. It supplies the soil with no more and no less than what is needed, but just the right amount. This enables financial savings and also protects the soil from excess chemicals – explains Aleksandar Rodić, head of the Robotics Laboratory at Mihajlo Pupin Institute.

This year, Nikola had 20 hectares of land under maize, 10 under wheat, and more than 4 under vegetables. He successfully grew two field crops on the same field by irrigating them throughout the six-month growing season. He notes that the current system enables yield stability, which is a key prerequisite for contracting vegetable sales to large retailers.

– Early in the year, I plant vegetables for known buyers. I negotiate quantities for specific buyers already in the winter and spring. Without stable yield, I cannot fulfil the contract, and then I am subject to penalties.

Thanks to the fact that Mobisan is powered by sun and wind, Nikola no longer uses diesel fuel, thus saving money and protecting the environment from pollution. For a 10-hectare field, replacing a diesel generator with a solar one saves 3,375 euros per season in fuel, as well as 6,750 kg in CO2 emissions. In addition, the yield has been increased by as much as 30 percent. The total pepper yield per season now amounts to 10 wagonloads.

– I save time, as I do not need to go to the field all the time to open and close valves – the device does all of it. The system tells me how much fertilizer and nutrients to add, how much to irrigate and for how long. I save electricity and water and preserve the soil. After we installed this system, I took my first real vacation, as it all functioned well without me. I operated the device from the beach in Greece – says farmer Nikola.

The investment in a 10-hectare digital field pays off in three years.

– For Serbian agriculture, mobility combined with renewable energy sources is the way to go. Besides the scientific and professional challenge, we were guided by the ethical motive to help Nikola, as a representative example of those 95 percent of family farms, because more than a million people in Serbia make a living by farming. The solution is not to merely give them subsidies; it is also necessary to teach them and give them the technology to be successful – stresses Aleksandar.

Technological innovation in agriculture enables adapting to the changing climate, while at the same time contributing to greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction.

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Mihajlo Pupin Institute’s “Development of Innovative Solutions in the Area of Smart Land Management in Agriculture” was selected as one of the 11 best innovative and climate-smart solutions within the “Climate Smart Urban Development” project, implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in partnership with the Ministry of Environmental Protection, with financial support from the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

Six innovative solutions that will contribute to the reduction of generation, as well as the reuse of biodegradable waste in Serbia, have received co-financing funds for their implementation in practice.

These solutions were selected under the “Bio-waste Management Challenge Call” organized by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Ministry of Environmental Protection, with the support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). The goal of this challenge was to identify and support the implementation of innovative solutions for management of food waste and kitchen waste, as well as green waste from parks and gardens.

The implementation of selected ideas will contribute to the reduction of the bio-waste by better procurement planning, separation of recyclable waste, use of biodegradable waste for the production of compost for fertilizers, pellets and briquettes for energy production, but also the production of soaps and edible oils.

These innovative solutions will also contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gases (GHG) emission and pollution, as well as the development of the circular economy in Serbia.

Thanks to the idea of the Public Utility Company “Higijena Pancevo”, a system of communal waste separation in individual households will be introduced in Serbia for the first time. This project will cover 300 households in the “pilot zone” of the city. Each household will receive a home composter, for the disposal of food waste and green waste. The compost created in that way can be used as fertilizer. In addition, households will receive a container for PET packaging separation and a container for mixed communal waste, while they will also be able to dispose of glass waste at common street checkpoints. “Higijena Pancevo” will measure the amount of waste collected in this way and keep electronic records about it, so that households pay for the waste collection service according to the amount of waste they dispose of.

In the vineyards on the territory of the municipality of Vrsac, large amounts of waste are generated from the branches, which mostly end up at landfills or are set on fire, like stubble. Dairy “Petrov” from Veliko Srediste near Vrsac came up with the idea to use grape branches to produce bio-pellets, which will be used as fuel for the needs of the dairy production. Dairy “Petrov” is already baling and using straw from its farm for that purpose, but they decided to introduce a new practice, since pellets from grape residues have a better caloric value, compared to straw. This will produce more energy with fewer raw materials.

The civil society organization “BIOIDEA”, in cooperation with the „Institute of General and Physical Chemistry” from Belgrade, has created a soap and candle production procedure from edible oil waste at home. They will distribute 2000 zeolite containers, in which the oil used in food preparation can be purified, as well as a recipe for soap production, free of charge to the interested citizens. The organization will also train women living in rural areas of Serbia to make soaps and candles from edible oil waste, in order to provide themselves with a source of income.

The company “Agrose” from Mladenovac, engaged in the production of jams and fruit purees, will use the seeds that remain after fruit processing to produce various sorts of edible oils for human use, as well as flour that can be used as a dietary supplement for animals. In this way, they will reduce the amount of food waste generated in the fruit processing chain.

The company “Hyperether” Ltd from Novi Sad will develop a mobile application based on artificial intelligence, which will contribute to the food waste reduction, by monitoring the expiration dates of the food in the refrigerator and by warning users of the application to use it on time. The application will do this based on the photos of food in the refrigerator and will also offer recipes for preparing meals based on the available groceries. The mobile application will be available to citizens free of charge, while a commercial version will be offered to hotels, restaurants and cafes, for better procurement planning.

In order to make the most of biodegradable waste from landfills, Public Utility Company “Regional Center for Waste Management Duboko Uzice” will produce pellets and briquettes from larger pieces of wood, as well as decorative mulch from the remains of wood. A composting plant will be opened at the landfill, where all other biodegradable waste from households will be preserved and processed into quality compost, which is used as a soil fertilizer.

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The „Bio-Waste Management Challenge” project is implemented by the United Nations Development Programme” (UNDP) in partnership with the Ministry of Environmental Protection, with the support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).