While part of the country is still wrestling with basic hygiene, the municipality of Ilinden is taking a step forward - it has launched an initiative for the primary sorting of plastic waste. The municipality teamed up with the Centre for Climate Change and the local public utility to set up a system for separating plastic right at home.

In the first phase, residents of the village of Jaka received free bins for sorting plastic waste - a total of 60 households got the containers so they can actively take part in separation and recycling. Mayor Aleksandar Georgievski stressed that this approach cuts the waste going to landfills, saves natural resources and supports the development of a circular economy.

The municipality says the initiative will expand to other settlements in the phases to come. It sounds small - 60 bins in one village - but it's exactly from these tiny, concrete steps that real change begins. The question is whether this stays a pilot project for the cameras, or actually grows into a habit that other municipalities copy. Waste sorting in the Balkans has for too long been a topic for conferences and rarely for the back yard - maybe Ilinden is showing it can be done differently.