From 16 to 21 June 2019, the Serbian Delegation was on a study tour in Spain in order to learn and get first-hand experience from Spanish colleagues on successful ways of dealing with the treatment and recovery of waste and wastewater.

Members of the delegation used the opportunity to visit Eptisa headquarter in Madrid. They also used the chance to discuss on water management, water sanitation and waste management with representatives and experts from Spanish Ministry for Ecological Transition as well as officials from the capital Madrid and the city of Seville. The Serbian delegation was learned on Spanish legal framework on treatment and rehabilitation of waste and wastewater, as well as directives and documents on waste prevention actions that Spanish public administration needs to take.

In addition, they were briefed on Spanish Waste Framework Directive and its transposition in the Law on waste and contamination soil that have established a hierarchy where the waste prevention is the priority strategy to protect the environment and the human health. Delegation seize the occasion and visited Water and Wastewater Company Emasesa of the Seville Metropolitan Area, as well as the Technological Park of Valdemingomez that is dedicated to the reception, treatment and recycling of all the solid waste generated in the Municipality of Madrid.

The Serbian delegation included representatives of the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Agriculture, as well as representatives of the city of Nis and Cacak, and Raska municipality. The study tour to Spain was organized as part of the project “Support to the Development of Environmental Infrastructure” (PEID) funded by the Government of Sweden through the Swedish Agency for International Development and Cooperation (SIDA) and implemented by the Swedish Embassy in Serbia in cooperation with the Ministry of Environmental.