site.btaSkopje’s Waste Pile-Up Becomes Key Issue in Local Election Campaign

A waste collection crisis in Skopje has entered the local election campaign between the two rounds of municipal voting, after overflowing rubbish containers and piles of uncollected waste triggered public concern and political recriminations, reports said on Friday.

Municipalities across Skopje have begun mobilizing their own resources to remove the mounting piles of rubbish surrounding overflowing waste containers, as the issue continues to dominate public debate between the two rounds of local elections. Doctors have warned of potential disease outbreaks, while local media have published photos showing rats scurrying among the trash. Humorous posts on social media even joked that a shipment of cats from Bitola was on its way to help deal with the infestation.

Against this backdrop, the Public Utility Company Communal Hygiene – Skopje said on Thursday that its teams had collected and transported 350 tonnes of household waste from several locations in the municipalities of Centar, Cair and Aerodrom over the previous day and night. The company noted that it had yet to receive replies from municipal mayors about where they were disposing of the waste supposedly gathered during their own collection activities.

“Today we did not observe any waste collection being carried out by municipal utility companies in certain Skopje municipalities. We are wondering whether these operations are actually taking place,” Communal Hygiene – Skopje said in a statement quoted by media in North Macedonia.

Meanwhile, Centar Mayor Goran Gerasimovski, who is facing a runoff vote on November 2, announced on Thursday that he was suspending his campaign to focus on cleaning efforts. The municipality has set up special collection points and schedules for food waste disposal. Gerasimovski urged all restaurants in Centar to deposit their waste in locations where containers are not overflowing and to use double or triple bags for better protection. He also said that emergency deratisation and disinfection would be carried out over the weekend in schools and kindergartens, along with mapping of crisis areas near educational institutions that require urgent cleaning.

While rubbish has been cleared from major boulevards and the surrounding containers have been emptied, many side streets remain heavily littered.

Responsibility for the situation remains disputed. Mayor Danela Arsovska has argued that the Skopje City Council, where VMRO-DPMNE and VLEN hold a majority, is responsible for decisions concerning public companies, including Communal Hygiene, whose Board of Directors is also composed of members from the same political blocs.

The company’s Board rejected allegations that it was obstructing operations. In a letter to the media, it said that over the past four years it had fulfilled "all procurement plans, investment programmes and operational programmes", as required by law. The Board said it had repeatedly warned Mayor Arsovska that the company’s financial instability and reduced waste collection capacity in the capital demanded urgent attention.

The capital’s waste crisis was discussed at a meeting of the Government of North Macedonia, which ordered an inquiry into its causes. The issue has also entered the election campaign, with VMRO-DPMNE’s mayoral candidate Orce Gjorgjievski pledging to clean the city within 72 hours of taking office, while his opponent from Levica, Amar Mecinovic, promised to reform Communal Hygiene and introduce technology to convert household waste into fuel derivatives.