Six months of smoke from "Krasta": residents of Pchinja and Studena Bara shut the landfill down themselves

Residents of Pchinja, Studena Bara, Vakuf and nearby villages have blockaded "Krasta", the municipal landfill of the city of Kumanovo. They explain why in one sentence: the landfill has been burning and smoking for six months, and they breathe that smoke at home and at school.

The blockade has stopped trucks from the public utility "Chistota i Zelenilo" from entering, so Kumanovo's rubbish is not being dumped there for now. Only trucks bringing soil to cover the waste are let through. According to residents, some children didn't go to school in the morning because of the smoke.

"The blockade of the 'Krasta' landfill is a forced response to six months of ordeal with constant pollution of the air we breathe," said Aleksandar Ilievski, head of the Pchinja local community. He recalled that at a meeting with the mayor, councillors and the public enterprise they had been promised that firefighting machinery would be brought in by 2 October. The deadline passed. The machinery never came, and the fire, residents say, has grown even more intense in recent days.

Now the institutions are reacting. Kumanovo's council reallocated four million denars to repair "Chistota i Zelenilo"'s machinery. The enterprise says two excavators, water tankers and other equipment are on site, and the director admits the situation isn't good and the anger is huge. The municipal protection and rescue headquarters is calling for stepped-up firefighting, a bulldozer, faster construction of a transfer station and the final closure of the landfill.

The problem with "Krasta" has dragged on for years, and in recent months it has flared up again with frequent fires. Residents are demanding the fire be fully put out and the waste covered, measures against it reigniting, and pollution monitoring stations in the villages. They say they won't back down until they get a permanent solution. The question is a simple one: why did it take six months of smoke to find four million denars to fix some excavators?