Did you know that from one kilogram of ajvar produced in the traditional way, one kilogram of waste remains, consisting of stems, seeds and other parts of peppers. It is estimated that in the south of Serbia, during the ajvar production season, as many as 21,000 tons of this bio-waste is generated, which usually ends up in wild landfills. Jelena Miletic from Medveđa, the owner of the company “Zavičaj u Tegli”, produces ajvar and all the waste that does not go into ajvar, she makes soaps from it. How did this symbiosis of ajvar and soap come about? „I have two children and my job is seasonal and I literally have work 2-3 months out of the year. I had to give us something to do in the off-season, so I met Sanida in Belgrade at the ecology fair and she accepted me into the franchise so that we could make soaps. It provides sales channels which is great for me. That’s when I came up with the idea of not producing waste, but drying the remains of paprika and adding it as an active component in soaps“, Miletić says.
Soap with Ajver Scent
