When the River Runs Dry, the Rubbish Remains

An Englishman in the Balkans is a weekly podcast about the people, places and everyday life of Bosnia and Herzegovina, told by David Bailey, who has lived here for more than 25 years. New episodes arrive every Tuesday.

This episode begins with what should have been a glorious evening walk.

I am standing beside the River Turjanica, about two and a half kilometres from our home in rural Bosnia. The sun is beginning to set, birds are moving through the trees, and the views stretch across the valley towards Laktaši and the River Vrbas.

After weeks of extreme summer heat, however, the Turjanica has almost completely dried up. A tractor has even been driven across the exposed riverbed.

And without the flowing water, something else has been revealed.

Plastic bags, animal-feed sacks, bottles, old food tins, newspapers, part of a car and even a small beer keg have been dumped along the riverbank. Some of the rubbish has spilled from broken bags, and the smell is impossible to ignore.

What makes this particularly difficult to understand is that regular rubbish collections already take place here, including organised collections for larger unwanted items.

So why do people still bring their waste into the countryside and leave it beside a river?

This is not one of my usual gentle celebrations of life in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is a more uncomfortable story about fly-tipping, personal responsibility and the importance of loving a place honestly rather than pretending it is perfect.

In this episode:

• Walking to the River Turjanica through the fields
• How the extreme heat has affected the river
• What the dry riverbed has exposed
• The problem of illegal rubbish dumping
• Why appreciating Bosnia also means acknowledging its problems

Have you encountered the same problem where you live? I would be very interested to hear your thoughts.

Thanks for listening. If this episode was worth your time, the best thing you can do is pass it on to someone who'd enjoy it.

Every episode, and more about my life here, is at anenglishmaninthebalkans.com.

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