The Regional Environmental Reconstruction Programme for South Eastern Europe REReP Record

NGO cleans up detergent market Sarajevo represents a black spot in the Danube River Basin. The Bosnian capital with a population of 400,000 citizens has no wastewater treatment plant, so all its sewage drains directly into rivers. Because of this, the city is marked as a black spot on the map of polluters of the Black Sea, the ultimate receptacle for all the basin’s runoff. Every day, consumers in Bosnia and Herzegovina are deluged with advertisements for detergents, of which new varieties enter the market on a continuous basis. The country has no laws limiting the amount of pollutive chemicals in detergents, making it possible to find detergents with more than 30 percent phosphorous, a nutrient that feeds oxygen-consuming algae. Too much algae can kill off other aquatic life from the bottom to top of the food web. The green organisation Ekotim raised public awareness about this problem through a project called “No FOSFOS.” The project was financed by a REC-administered grant from the United Nations Development Programme-Global Environment Facility (UNDPGEF) Danube Regional Project (DRP). The project began with the sampling of water from communal waste waters at seven points on the River Miljacka. These were then tested at no charge in the laboratory of the Institute for Hydromechanics, a project partner. Research results were presented during an 11-month publicity campaign that reached an estimated 200,000 people. In cooperation with another project partner, “Student eFM Radio,” Ekotim produced a public-information spot discussing the amount of phosphorous released every day in rivers in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It encouraged people to use phosphorous-free detergents that clean clothes as well as more environmentally harmful types. The spot was played 10 times a day for the duration of the campaign, reaching the ears of over 150,000 people. Other publicity efforts included the distribution of 9,000 postcards in the city, 20,000 leaflets and brochures in workshops in schools, posters placed in public toilets and articles that were printed in national newspapers and journals. Ekotim devised “green” and “black” lists of detergents, and put them on leaflets and a project website to help people make environmentally preferable choices. Test results of samples from the River Miljacka showed that the first part of project met with success. The amount of phosphorous dumped in the river was reduced from 310 to 245 kg per day. “The phosphate detergent industry, mainly Proctor and Gamble and a detergent factory from Croatia, opposed us with their own TV commercials,” said Rijad Tikvesa from Ekotim. “But the Bosnian Company Dita from Tuzla ended up developing a new line of detergents without phosphate with environmentally-friendly labeling. So we think we’ve had a very positive effect.”

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