By members of the Institute for Sustainable Communities
The average Serbian citizen produces approximately 300 kilos of non-recyclable solid waste per year. Half of the waste ends up in illegal waste dumps that are found in parks, rivers, sidewalks, and other areas in a community. People's disregard for their surrounding environment and apathy towards local and national pollution of air, water, and land is a common problem in Serbia. In addition, the capacities and infrastructure of public utility companies to establish kerbside garbage collection and the financial resources of local authorities to pursue waste removal remain insufficient.
The 'Green List of Serbia' is a coalition comprised of 12 local and regional civil society organisations (CSOs) dedicated to facilitating cooperation around environmental issues. The group has launched its
Oplaneti se! (Planetise Yourself!) campaign in tandem with another: Exit Green Guerilla. The campaign culminated in July 2009 at the EXIT Music Festival in Novi Sad.
This year EXIT 'went green' and dedicated its entire festival to environmental issues, which is a significant boost in efforts to raise awareness on environmental issues at the national level. This included adopting eco-friendly technology such as solar power for the EXIT campgrounds and bio-diesel fuel to power festival stages, as well as going paperless in promoting the festival by relying on electronic advertisements and public promotional activities. Thousands of festival-goers had the opportunity to participate in numerous environmental activities and games throughout the duration of the festival.
More than 150,000 music fans from the country and abroad attended EXIT. Performers included Patti Smith, pioneers of early electronic music Kraftwerk, young British pop star Lilly Allen, Madness, London hip-hop artist Roots Manuva, the Manic Street Preachers and many others.
