Collecting the caps in Kotor was initiated by Jelena Radunović, an employee in the Utility Company of the town, since last summer on the social networks when she learned about the action "Cork for Handicap", which has been implemented in Serbia for a number of years by an organization in Zrenjanin.
Radunovic placed the first bucket in the building where she works, and the action was then expanded and buckets for the plastic caps were placed in all primary schools in Kotor, in high schools, music schools, centers for hearing and speech, in the building of Kotor Municipality, the Health Center, as well as at the General Hospital and Hospital in Risan. The Utility Company from Tivat recently joined this action, so the buckets for caps are also installed in several companies in this municipality.
Radunovic also established cooperation with the association from Zrenjanin, whereby the Utility Company from Kotor became the official partner of this organization for Montenegro.
"We are happy with how the action is going, the responsiveness of all elementary, high school and pre-school institutions is excellent. Apart from the educational institutions, all health facilities are included from the territory of our municipality. So far more than 800 kilograms of caps have been collected," Radunovic said. The collected amount of caps, as she adds, is currently stored at the property of the Utility Company from Kotor, at the transshipment station, from where it will be taken over by the Zrenjanin Association “A cork for Handicap”, which will organize the transport of the collected corks to Serbia. For one orthopedic aid, it is necessary to provide 1,500 kg of caps. Radunovic states that they, regardless of the required amount, have agreed with the Zrenjanin association that if someone in the territory of the Kotor municipality needs an orthopedic aid, it will be provided.
"There were no requests for supplies so far," she said. Radunovic adds that it would be easier for the export procedure to cooperate with some organization in Montenegro instead of the Serbian association. "But as we started the whole action in cooperation with the Zrenjanin association and under their slogan, we are doing it, we will continue to cooperate with them."
The organization has collected around 230 tons of caps in Serbia for five years, thanks to which 61 orthopedic aids were purchased. Caps are collected in 330 kindergartens, 460 primary and 140 high schools, and in seven ministries.
Which kind of caps to collect
Caps from the bottles of water and juices, canisters, cosmetic products such as shampoos, baths, softeners, milk closures and other carton packs, ketchup and motor and edible oils are being collected. No caps from jars, containers and ice cream boxes are collected because they are not adequate.
What you throw away today will stay on the beach for 1,000 years
Plastic caps are ranked fifth in the total number of garbage containers in the world. They are made of hard plastic, made of polypropylene and polyethylene. The average time needed for the dissolution of plastic bottles is 450 years, and the plastic caps are even slower, sometimes even 1000 years. A recent survey by the Institute for Sea Biology has shown that plastic makes over 80 percent of total waste on the Montenegrin beaches, and part of the collected plastics are, in fact, plastic caps.
Text by Damira Kalac, on August 3rd 2018, read more at Vijesti
