Prilep claims to be first in the country for household waste sorting - 49 percent of residents separate waste at home. The figure was announced by mayor Dejan Prodanoski, after a study visit by representatives from Ǵorče Petrov, Gazi Baba, Ilinden and Strumica to the municipal utility "Komunalec".

If the figure is accurate, it deserves to be said louder than it is being said. Almost half the households in a Macedonian town separating waste at home means the system did not collapse at the place it usually collapses - at the person holding the bag.

What comes next

The municipality and "Komunalec" are announcing a new investment cycle: semi-underground containers, a new collection centre, a composting facility, and a secondary sorting plant with a capacity of 10 tonnes of waste per hour.

Ten tonnes an hour is a real industrial figure, not a declaration. That is a plant that needs raw material - and this is exactly where household sorting becomes input material rather than an environmental gesture.

The part worth keeping

The most interesting moment in the whole story is not the percentage, but that four other municipalities came to Prilep to see how it is done. That is a practice rarely seen here - a municipality sharing a system instead of guarding it as a political credit.

Prodanoski says the goal is a transition to a circular economy. That is a phrase everybody uses, but here at least there is infrastructure behind it.

And one caveat

The 49 percent figure was announced by the municipality about itself. That does not mean it is wrong - it means there is no independent check alongside it. Who measures household sorting in Macedonian municipalities, by what methodology, and where is that data published so somebody can compare it?

If the answer is that the measuring is done by the same institution announcing the result, then Prilep may genuinely be the leader - but so far we only know that from Prilep.