Robert Čajič/Managing Director Saubermacher North Macedonia, Ibrahim Dehari/Director of the National Park, (from left to right), photo rights: Saubermacher Slovenija

21. May 2024

Saubermacher supports environmental campaign in North Macedonia

Last Whitsun weekend, the country's largest "spring clean" took place for the fourth time in a row in numerous municipalities. Saubermacher, which has been active as a waste management company in the city of Tetovo since the beginning of the year as part of a public-private partnership (PPP), is actively helping with the campaign. The initiative promotes awareness of environmental protection and is in line with the company's sustainability principles. Saubermacher Tetovo is also introducing regular waste disposal in the national park for the first time in order to prevent illegal waste dumping in the future.

This year’s highlight of the three-day cleaning campaign is the deployment in Šar Planina National Park, which belongs to the municipality of Tetovo. The national park and the surrounding villages, which previously had no access to regular waste collection services, were comprehensively serviced by Saubermacher for the first time. In addition, the environmental pioneer took over the transport and disposal of around 12 tonnes of collected waste free of charge. “Our activities in North Macedonia are an important step towards establishing sustainable waste management,” explained Hans Roth, founder and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Saubermacher. “It is particularly important to us to support the local communities and citizens and to ensure that waste is collected and disposed of properly in the future.”

Impressions of the spring cleaning

Volunteers work together to remove rubbish from a stream bed in Šar Planina National Park.

A large pile of rubbish and waste collected during the clean-up campaign in Šar Planina National Park.

Soldiers collect rubbish in inaccessible terrain in Šar Planina National Park during the clean-up operation.

Volunteers and Saubermacher employees pose together with soldiers after the successful cleaning campaign in Šar Planina National Park.

The cleaning campaign in Šar Planina National Park effectively tackled the problem of illegal waste dumping in order to strengthen nature conservation and protect the environment. Photo rights: Saubermacher Slovenija

The environmental initiative was launched in 2021 by the organisation ‘Man and Mountain’ by CEO Hannes Jäckl, a Styrian, and is supported by a broad alliance of government institutions, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and volunteers. This year, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture as well as the Centre for Crisis Management and the Red Cross also provided important support to remove illegal waste dumps around the village of Veshalla in the national park in very dangerous terrain.

Until now, there has been no rubbish collection in the villages in the national park. This is now set to change. “Saubermacher Tetovo is now providing regular waste disposal services for citizens. Together with the national park, Saubermacher Tetovo will continue to inform the local population in order to ensure proper disposal and prevent illegal waste dumping,” says Robert Cajic, Managing Director of Saubermacher North Macedonia.