Macedonian Ecologists’ Movement No “rotten apples” this year   The Macedonian Ecologists’ Movement awarded the traditional “Green Apple” for the year 2005 to Latif Beaz, owner of the Eko-Erol company from Veles. Public certificates were awarded to Daniel Kanevce – a journalist at the Macedonian radio, to the daily newspaper “Vreme” and to Cane Stojkovski. This year, the traditional “rotten apples” and public criticism, which had been given to those who contributed to polluting the environment, were left out. They say at EM, that for this “unexpected” decided the organization’s assembly. “There were candidates”, they say, “but no one stood out, so the Assembly decided not to award the “Rotten apple” this year.. Having in mind the fact that this recognition has built its reputation through the years, it remains vague why the Macedonian Ecologists’ Movement did not use it at least as a mechanism for publicly criticizing the “many candidates”. The winner of the “Green Apple” was awarded for initiating the process of recycling plastic in Macedonia. The plastic is not yet processed in Macedonia, but it is exported in Turkey where they use it in the textile industry. “Collecting the plastic waste can be a good source of existence for both the families and the civil society organizations”, think at “Eko-Erol”. Practically, a family from Stip collects and sells 30-35 tones of plastic waste a month and earns 240 to 280 thousand MKD. Every year, 6 000 to 10 000 tones of plastic waste are produced in Macedonia, which is about 1.300.000 euros. The invention of Mirko Uzelac for minimizing the plastic bottles and the eco-container that will serve for collecting the plastic waste were also presented at the press conference. The prototype of the eco-container is expected to be ready by 15 April when its use will be tested.   G.J.