The city of Vranje supports 10:10 campaign efforts!

Vranje is a city and municipality located in southern Serbia with  population of  almost 90,000 people. It is the administrative center of the Pčinja District of Serbia.

As from September 2010 Vranje will the first city in Serbia that will ban the usage of plastic bags - a recent City Council's decision, inspired also by 10:10 campaign, to  ban the use of PVC packaging for packing groceries, fruits, vegetables and other products.

A member of the city government responsible for environmental protection Nela Cvetkovic told us that the decision to ban the use of PVC bags will be delivered also to the owners of trade shops and other stores.

Against those who do not adhere to the ban on the use of plastic bags, communal police will apply punitive measures from January next year.

"Action has received more and more fans and much before the official ban, stores committed to packing products in biodegradable bags made of paper," said Nela Cvetković.

In her words, it is high time to ban the use of plastic bags, as their decomposition time is from 400 up to 1000 years.

Bags that are not made of PVC in contact with moisture decompose in four to 12 months, "said Ms Cvetković.

It is estimated that in the stores, the two markets and other places in Vranje people daily use more than 70,000 plastic bags.

A large number of plastic bags are now being thrown into the streets and waste dumps, but also on the shores of South Morava river.

"We are using the summer period to educate citizens and students how importnat it is not to use plastic bags. The amount of penalties for traders who do not adhere to the ban will be decided by the local government," said Cvetkovic.

Biodegradable bags are produced only in Novi Sad, Jagodina and Valjevo (northern and central Serbia), and domestic manufacturers are now only exporting to EU countries, said Nela Cvetković.

In Vranje local government pointed out that they reached an agreement with domestic manufacturers to produce biodegradable packaging products for the Serbian market as well.