12.04.2013, Kocani

On 12 of Apryl 2013, in Hotel “National”-Kocani, the first workshop was held on the topic "Preparation of Situation Analysis". At this workshop, the Working Group of Kocani was composed of representatives from the NGO Avena – Kocani, representatives of the informal waste collectors, Employment Agency, Regional Office of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, Public Utility Company and representatives of organizations for waste management in Kocani. The workshop was facilitated by Anne Scheinberg -expert in the field of plastic recycling and work with informal collectors around the world. She presentid the situation and legal framework in the European countries and gave examples of waste management there. The workshop aimed to introduce the members of the Working Group with defining the activities related to research and field visits with the need of data-base for informal waste collectors. Within the primary activities was indicated the need for research, field work and data collection for informal waste collectors in order to create a data-base as a start point in the process for their inclusion in the formal system. What was delivered in conclusion is that public institutions in Kocani need to find a way to include informal waste collectors into the formal system , together with waste management organizations at the local level. It’s important for this system to be sustainable, realistic and to find the best solution for the informal collectors. This workshop was held within the project "Inclusion of informal Roma waste collectors into the formal waste schemes," funded by the European Union through the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights , in implementation of MDC -Ti.NET-Skopje, with the partner organizations Avena - Kocani, Planetum-Strumica and Regional enterprise support center- Skopje.