FORMALIZATION OF WORK OF INFORMAL COLLECTORS OF SECONDARY RAW MATERIALS IN SERBIA

‘The Formalization of Work of Informal Collectors of Secondary Raw Materials in Serbia’ is the title of the round table organized by the SASA Board for the Study of Life and Customs of the Roma which takes place on 17 December, at 11 a.m. at the SASA Hall 3. There are 25,.000 individual raw material collectors living in Serbia who collect 500,000 tons of recyclable communal waste. This event aims to provide support to current efforts to create an institutionalized framework addressing their work status.

Despite the European Commission’s recommendation related to environmental protection and climate change and the Action Plan for the Roma Integration under Chapter 23 of the EU accession process related to collectors, they still do not have a legal status of workers in Serbia. They work day to day without being employed and exist in a grey zone, working in difficult work conditions with minimal and uncertain livelihoods.

The round table will focus on a developmental vision of collectors’ contribution to environmental protection and circular economy. The debate will approach the issue from industrial-economic, legal and social point of view and should establish the foundations for a new regulatory framework for the legalization of the collectors’ work in accordance with the needs of sustainable development, circular economy and climate change prevention, but also with the needs of the collectors of secondary raw materials themselves.