USAID Grants for the most successful companies in recycling plastic bottles   USAID – the project for recycling plastic, has provided 25,000 US dollars for the purchase of new equipment and tools for the companies that recycle in Macedonia. Eight companies from several towns in Macedonia that cooperated with USAID in the project were given the grants. They are: Eko eras” from Veles, “Provavil” from Skopje, “Soncev rid” from Slegovo, “Eko flor” from Bogovinje, “Muamed AG from” Gostivar, the public company “Cistota I zelenilo” and “Baskom IND” from Kumanovo, “ERH Plastika” from Skopje and “Proleter” from Resen. The selection was made according to the quantities of collected plastic bottles, their organizational capacity and the proposed investment programme. At the moment, the USAID project team for recycling plastic is working with four of the selected pilot-municipalities in the implementation of the municipality programme for recycling plastic – Strumica, Kocani, Gostivar and Karpos. It is expected the collection to increase when the municipalities take more active role in organizing the programme for the primary selection of the plastic waste. “The goal of this financial help is to strengthen the current process of collecting plastic and to implement the programme throughout Macedonia, which would eventually lead to further development of an economically feasible programme for recycling plastic”, says Ljupco Avramovski, director of the USAID project for recycling plastic. Through the project for recycling plastic, including the three previous phases, USAID has invested more than 150,000 dollars since 2003 and is planning to invest 1 million more in the next two years. The quantity of collected and recycled plastic in Macedonia has grown to 1,500 tones this year, generating over 600,000 dollars in export and 50% growth in comparison to last year.   S.N.