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Slovenian Armed Forces are an ecologically responsible organization
On 17 April the Slovenian Armed Forces (SAF) will participate in an environmental project 'Let's Clean Slovenia in a Day' organized by an Association 'Ecologists without Borders'. On that day, the majority of SAF members will be active in their hometowns; however, on 10 April the Slovenian Armed Forces will organize clean-up operations in the areas and around facilities owned by the Ministry of Defence all over Slovenia: on that day, SAF members will clean up a few illegal dumping areas on territories owned by the Ministry of Defence. In this was, the Slovenian Armed Forces will demonstrate to organizers of the Let's Clean Slovenia in a Day' project all logistic and organizational challenges they will come across during this clean-up operation.
SAF members are fully aware that in the area of ecology we must behave as a socially responsible organization and that a positive attitude towards the environment is one of the key factors contributing to the development and successful operation of modern armed forces. To this end, we appropriately collect and separate waste and consequently decrease waste disposal and recycling costs, thus considerably contributing to the clean environment. All SAF facilities are equipped with waste bins for separate waste collection; consequently, last year waste disposal and recycling costs decreased by 60 per cent.
In General Maister Military Post in Maribor which employs 930 people, last year, within only six months, due to separate waste collection waste disposal costs decreased from 3,780 euros in July to 1,200 euros in December, while in Franc Rozman Stane Military Post in Ljubljana which employees 1090 people, the same type of costs decreased from 1,930 euros in July to 970 euros in December. All SAF military posts are equipped with bins for separate collection of waste which can be recycled, such as packaging, paper, glass, organic waste, with bins for hazardous household waste and with bins for other types of waste. The Slovenian Armed Forces give a lot of attention to education in the area of ecology. In order to encourage separate waste collection, waste bins have been removed from offices. Instead, bins for separate collection of packaging, paper and other waste have been placed on corridors. There are also bins for hazardous household waste, such as batteries and cartridges.
The Slovenian Armed Forces act in line with National Environmental Legislation and its provisions and conduct their activities in conformity with them. To this end, at the beginning of 2009 we adopted Directive on Environmental Protection in the Slovenian Armed Forces which determines the organization, competence, responsibility and tasks of commands and units for the implementation of measures in the area of environmental protection. Provisions of this Directive are applicable also to activities carried out by allied forces in the area of the Republic of Slovenia. The purpose of the Directive is to define environmental protection activities, procedures and measures related to the usage of military infrastructure; to ensure environmental training for all SAF members; to participate in the implementation of environmental protection measures within peace-keeping operations and to participate in the civil protection and disaster relief system.