The main objectives of waste management are environmental preservation, the safeguarding of human health, and natural resources conservation. Material flow analysis/ substances flow analysis (MFA/SFA) method takes into account the consideration of the “metabolic” system of waste management, which means monitoring waste flows and substances within the model for waste management, and examining all inputs and outputs in the system, as well as their evaluation and comparison. Modeled scenarios in the Banjaluka region of the Republic of Srpska (RS) were developed in accordance with both the European Union (EU) and RS legislation, as well as relevant municipal waste management strategic documents. Modeled municipal solid waste (MSW) management scenarios are compared with the current waste management system. Using MFA/SFA (waste flow, carbon, and nitrogen), a complete view of flow, transformations, and final waste disposal and substances in modeled scenarios of waste management is realized. Results of this study suggest that in the future, more activity should be based on the separate collection and recycling, compared to the current, inadequate MSW management system that is based only on the disposal of waste. The combination of material and substance flows analyses is an effective tool in the decision-making process for the development and improvement of MSW management.

Organochlorine pesticide (OCP) cycling was studied in the area of Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, over 3 days in summer with high temporal (4 h-means) and spatial (3 sites distanced 3–6 km) resolutions. Elevated levels of DDX compounds (i.e. o,p′- and p,p′-isomers of DDT, DDE and DDD, 44–74 pg m⁻³ at the urban sites and 27 pg m⁻³ as a background level), HCH (α-, β- and γ-isomers, 52–70 vs. 147 pg m⁻³), HCB (34–48 vs. <0.1 pg m⁻³) and pentachlorobenzene (6.8–9.9 vs. 6.0 pg m⁻³) were found. The variation of OCP levels at the two urban sites was not in phase, except for most DDX compounds. This was related to background levels, which for HCH were higher than in the urban area. Vertical profiles between samples collected from 1.1 and 2.3 m (part of the time 0.6 and 2.3 m) above a soil, which was only moderately contaminated by OCPs (0.12 ng g⁻¹HCH, 0.11 ng g⁻¹DDX, 0.44 ng g⁻¹HCB) were analysed. Volatilisation from the ground caused negative vertical concentration gradients of HCH isomers (day and night), but not for HCB (except for 1 day-time sample) and DDX compounds (except p,p′-DDD, day-time, sporadically). The concentration in air and the vertical concentration gradient of the HCH isomers varied with air temperature (day-time maxima), while the variation of the HCB concentration was inversely related to air temperature and was determined by mixing (night-time maxima). α- and β-HCH were volatilised from soil throughout the three days, even during periods of cooling. Fugacity calculations, based on the absorption in soil organic matter as the process determining retention in soil, underestimated the volatilisation of β-HCH and p,p′-DDD. It is concluded that the representativeness of point measurements of OCPs in urban areas is limited by the spatial variability of soil contamination.