Shares in waste - Why trading in secondary raw materials in Serbia is not possible through Ekoberza?

By setting up Ekoberza, secondary raw materials market would come to life, faster recycling, resources would be preserved, exchange would be transparent and the most important, Serbia would get trade center which could become important for the world - Sava Zivanovic, company manager in Technological partnership, who developed this kind of trade in Serbia in 2010.

- Our idea is to make a place where, in the simple way, it would be possible to define and see prices, to monitor hazardous and non-hazardous waste flow. It would be a kind of an auction of secondary raw materials. This way of trading present direct fight against monopoly, grey market and promotes faster recycling development because, apart from other things, it decreases transaction costs, i.e. costs of obligatory tender publishing which could range from 0,05 to 0,25% of translation value –Zivanovic says in his interview for eKapija.

Our collocutor mentions that ownership distribution in Ekoberza would guarantee avoidance of manipulation.

- Companies could participate in the ownership with 10% most. We think that the largest participants at Ekoberza should be owners at the beginning of Ekoberza operations as well. We are trying to make our idea come true but there is certain resistance in the largest public companies which want to participate in Ekoberza.

The Oil Industry of Serbia (NIS) is one of the biggest companies which could participate in Ekoberza. But, the company did not provide information whether they are interested in participating in this type of raw materials trade.

To set up Ekoberza, there is a lack of the support of the biggest companies which could potentially participate in this type of trade but there are also those which see their opportunity in this proposal.

Uzice-based Oleks processes secondary raw materials procured via tender from large companies such as the Oil Industry of Serbia, Telekom Srbije, Mine Basin Kolubara, Elektromreza Srbije (EMS). This way, the company receives 250-300 tons of ground granules of copper . The company says it is interested to participate in trading through Ekoberza.

- We buy now secondary raw materials via tenders from big companies because they have large quantities. If these companies participated in Ekoberza, we would join this kind of trading, but as for now it does not exist - Milanko Gordic, owner of Uzice-based Oleks says for eKapija.

The General Manager in Technological partnership points out that he does not have the support of the state in setting up Ekoberza.

- We think the support of the state would enable setting up of the trade center which could become one of the world centers for secondary raw materials trading and where financial industry of services could be developed.

The Ministry of Energy Management, Development and Environmental Protection avoided to provide clear answers when eKapija asked about development options of Ekoberza in Serbia. They only told us that the secondary raw materials trading is a question of market supply and demand. Therefore, they think the Ministry should not influence it as well as that Law on Waste Management clearly defines waste management system through permits and documents on waste flow.

Zivanovic thinks this trading model in Serbia does not exist and that everything depends on the announcement boards with advertising waste sales and purchase "therefore, it is not surprising that this kind of a system, which has also been confirmed in practice, cannot control waste flow.”

- Great Britain has been using the auction system for a couple of years. For example, it is used for the sales of disused military equipment. Apart from that, they are implementing the auction system with previously selected participants in order to decrease the potion of tender terms manipulation.

Zivanovic sees huge potential in secondary raw materials trading because, as he says, the stake of secondary raw materials in trade in the total gross domestic product (GDP) of Serbia which is some EUR 30 billion per year, is absolutely not known:

- It is thought this number varies from a couple of hundred million to a billion euro annually, 50% of which out of the legal flows. The problem of the grey market is especially big in dangerous waste flow because quantities and disposing places are not familiar.

Technological partnership

Technological partnership was set up in 2010 in Belgrade. The basic program focuses on development of the electronic system for trading in securities and medical devices development.

- My wife and I lived in England for nine years and we came three years ago and set up the company wishing thus to change some things in business. The company develops software. We operate in a number of fields; we develop applications for medical instruments and data collection, distribution and payment collection – the owner of the Technological partnership said for eKapija.

Suzana Obradovic