8th EMFM Zenica 2018. – Environmental and health effects of inadequate disposal of animal waste in Zenica-Doboj canton

The International Conference on Environmental Management and Material Flow Management – EMFM 2018 was organized this year for the eighth time, jointly by the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Zenica (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Technical Faculty in Bor, University of Belgrade (Serbia), and Environmental Campus Birkenfeld, University of Applied Sciences Trier (Germany), presenting a forum fo representation and discussion of scientific research and practice on the subjects of environmental and material flow management.

ENVIRONMENTAL AND HEALTH EFFECTS OF INADEQUATE DISPOSAL OF ANIMAL WASTE IN ZENICA-DOBOJ CANTON – authors: Rusmir Goletić & Safet Kubat from Institute for Health and Food Safety Zenica, Fra Ivana Jukića 2, 72000 Zenica, BiH

 Abstract

According to the available data in the Zenica-Doboj Canton area, about 22,500 t/year of animal waste (1., 2. and 3. Categories, except for fertilizers) is generated. However, it is assumed that this quantity is much higher. On the other hand, in the Zenica-Doboj Canton area, as well as in the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina, there are no adequate facilities for the disposal of animal waste, which is the biggest problem in the management of animal waste.

Most of the animal waste is disposed of by burial in the pits of the tomb, it is deposited on municipal landfills, and in the worst cases it is rejected on the banks of the river, in the forests or on other locations without burial. Such inadequately handled animal waste presents a risk both for the environment and for the public health, especially in the case of animal carcasses or parts of carcasses of animals killed or euthanized due to infectious diseases, mainly zoonoses such as brucellosis, Q fever, echinococcosis, leishmaniosis and others.

Vectors, such as rodents, birds, insects and others, divide animal waste further into nature, leading to the spread of infectious material and the cause of the disease (zoonosis) further in the environment. Activities on building adequate capacity for animal waste management in BiH should begin in 2019, as foreseen in the “Strategy for the management of animal by-products and animal waste in Bosnia and Herzegovina with action plans (for the period 1.1.2019 – 31.12.2023 years)”.