ORG-VITI

In the Republic of Kosovo, organic municipal and agricultural waste is not used sustainably, but is disposed of in a way that causes risks to nature, the environment and people. There is interest in the sustainable use of organic residues as bioresources at the municipal level, but the development of concepts and implementation paths is a great challenge for local actors, which could be better managed in partnership between municipalities and universities. In this context, the transdisciplinary and binational ORG-VITI project is focusing on the municipality of Viti in the Republic of Kosovo. The methodological approach in the project is carried out in such a way that methodological steps and results of the project will be transferable to other municipalities in the Republic of Kosovo and the Western Balkans.

In the project, scientists from the University of Prishtina "Hasan Prishtina" (Prof. Dr. Arben Mehmeti, Prof. Dr. Hysen Bytyqi) and the Justus Liebig University Giessen (Prof. Dr. Rolf-Alexander Düring, Prof. Dr. Rainer Waldhardt, N.N.) as well as representatives of the local authorities of Viti and the city of Kirchhain (Hesse) are working together on the project goals. The expertise of several associated project partners from both countries (including the NGO "GLV Vitia", Region Marburger Land e.V., GoBeyond) supports the work of the project partners. The project also involves pupils from the municipality of Viti and students from the Republic of Kosovo and other countries in the Western Balkans who are interested in the topic, as well as potential investors for the subsequent implementation of projects for the sustainable use of organic municipal and agricultural waste in Viti. Important foundations for the cooperation between the project partners are a sustainability partnership between the municipalities of Viti and Kirchhain, which began in 2017 and has been formalized as a town twinning agreement between the two municipalities since 2023, as well as a cooperation between the two universities that started in 2012. From June 2024, the project will be coordinated by a research assistant at the University of Giessen, who will also be responsible for collecting data on the quantities and qualities of organic residues in Viti and for chemical analyses of these residues.