Serbia's Landfill Makeover

The World Bank Group

BELGRADE, Serbia—Water the color of ash trickles down a hillside, heading for an orchard of plum trees dotting the banks of the Danube.

The tiny waterfalls of black water that empty into Europe’s second-largest river pack a toxic punch: Pollutants are leaching from thousands of layers of trash—some as old as 1977, the year the city started dumping on the site. Environmental experts here say that because the dumpsite has never been properly managed, the water is highly polluted.

The Vinča landfill is the largest unmanaged open dump left in Europe. The landfill absorbs 600 truckloads of trash every day: 1,500 tons of household waste and 3,000 tons of construction waste. Despite taking up as much space as 185 European football fields, the landfill is running out of space to accommodate the new waste delivered daily.

And it is the site of an environmental disaster that is threatening to contaminate the water and air just 15 kilometers from the center of Belgrade. But that is about to change.