Stench from Bosnia’s Ramici Landfill Indicates Mounting Waste Challenges

Scorching temperatures were followed by rain, and a heavy, suffocating stench of decay filled the air around the Ramici Regional Landfill, near Banja Luka in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina. A viscous black liquid, a mix of rain, wastewater and sewage, is absorbed into the ground and, eventually, the stream that runs nearby. The landfill cassette – an isolated, underground ‘cell’ with impermeable lining, drainage system, and gas control system – is full, according to local resident Dragan Bajic, and so, he said, the landfill should be closed. “Data gathered by residents and activists indicate that the maximum capacity of the cassette was reached a year or a year and a half ago,” said Bajic, who is part of a group of concerned residents. “Given this, the conditions for operating a regional landfill no longer exist. In the environmental permit we reviewed, in coordination with a legal team, we found that the method of animal waste disposal currently practiced at the landfill is not recognised by the applicable legislation.” At Ramici, animal waste is dumped in an open meadow and mixed with the other waste using excavators, even when the summer temperatures are nudging 40 degrees Celsius. Bajic said he and other residents live in fear of an environmental catastrophe. “We are not asking for anything special, nor do we have political motives or wish to score points for the elections,” Bajic said, speaking ahead of elections held on October 4.