ZAGREB, 12 Sept, 2021 - Forty-one percent of waste in Croatia is sorted and every Croat annually generates 414 kilograms of waste, which is then used by companies to manufacture new products, Večernji List newspaper said in its Sunday edition.

The largest amounts of textile and footwear waste are not separated and end up in mixed municipal waste or bulky waste, the newspaper quoted the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development as saying.

The ministry noted that textile and footwear waste recovery facilities are not utilised enough, and that all wastes should be collected separately on the sites where they are produced, for example by using containers or a door-to-door waste collection system. It added that waste re-use centres are also a solution, such as the one operating in the northern town of Prelog, and stressed the importance of awareness raising, encouraging product repairs, buying more durable products and separating unwanted products for re-use.

The national waste management plan for 2017-2022 aims, among other things, to reduce the total amount of generated municipal waste by 5% and ensure separate collection of 60% of municipal waste, 40% of biowaste and 75% of construction waste.

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ZAGREB, 12 Sept, 2021 - Croatia has registered 807 new coronavirus cases and 13 COVID-19-related deaths in the last 24 hours, the national COVID-19 response team said on Sunday.

Currently, 572 infected people are receiving hospital treatment and 62 of them are on ventilators. The number of active cases stands at 6,123, and 12,468 persons are self-isolating.

Since 25 February 2020, when the first case was recorded in the country, 383,915 people have been registered as having been infected with the novel virus, of whom 8,440 have died and 369,352 have recovered, including 814 in the last 24 hours.

To date, 2,658,977 people have been tested for the virus, including 9,857 in the last 24 hours.

A total of 3,330,644 doses of vaccines have been administered so far, with 43.36% of the total population, or 52.06% of adults, having received at least one dose, while 1,649,627 adults or 48.87% have been fully inoculated.

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ZAGREB, 12 Sept, 2021 - Two Croatian Facebook teacher groups have asked Science and Education Minister Radovan Fuchs to protect school staff from opponents to coronavirus restrictions in schools and to punish the anti-maskers who invaded the primary school in the northwestern spa town of Krapinske Toplice.

"We demand a strong reaction and all the necessary steps so that things like this would not happen again," the Facebook teacher groups Školska Zbornica (Staffroom) and 45 Minutes said in an open letter to the minister on Sunday.

They said that schools must be safe places for all students and staff, and that Minister Fuchs is responsible for ensuring safety for teachers in schools, especially during the implementation of the required epidemiological measures.

The two groups bring together abut 20,000 teachers and other educational staff. 

About 20 people held a protest outside Krapinske Toplice Primary School on Friday because an eight-year-old pupil, who refuses to wear a face mask, had been banned from entering the school. The protest was organised by the boy's father, who says a mask makes it difficult for his son to breathe and that the school does not allow him to use common areas without it. In that way, he said, his son is being denied the right to an education.

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September 12, 2021 - Some of Croatia's biggest entrepreneurial names will gather in Zagreb later this month for one of the country's most inspiring conferences - Entrepreneurial Mindset 2021.  

Of all the many conferences I have attended in Croatia, none came close to the energy of Poduzetnicki Mindset (Entrepreneurial Mindset), which took place on this day two years ago in Zagreb. 

Only positivity was allowed into the building, and some of Croatia's most successful entrepreneurs gave up their time to share their stories in person.  They included two men who had recently been included in the Financial Times list of Top 100 Digital Champions of Europe, Nenad Bakic and Mate Rimac. 

One of the highlights for me - apart from the excellent presentations - was seeing high school students, rather than politicians, in the front row, having their mindsets stimulated by some of Croatia's finest. It was a fascinating  day, showcasing the incredible potential of the Croatian private sector.

Two years is a long time, and the pandemic has been a major factor in everything over the last 18 months. But one thing is for certain - the Croatian entrepreneurial story is moving forward, the energy of that 2019 conference increasingly evident in the private sector. 

One of the highlights of that first conference was listening to Rimac Automobili CEO Mate Rimac, who gave a fascinating presentation not only on the incredible rise of his company since 2010, but also looking at Slovakia as a case study for the impact on the economy of the car industry.  Rimac gave a detailed overview of the Slovakian car industry, and how its annual exports were already greater than Croatia's combined annual exports. 

And we all know what Rimac has been up to in the automotive industry in recent months. Mate Rimac will also be taking part in this year's Entrpreneurial Mindset 2021, which will take place at Algebra University College at Ilica 242 in Zagreb on September 28. 

Rimac will not be the only Croatian global success story to be presenting at Entrepreneurial Mindset 2021. Since that first conference, Croatia got its first startup unicorn, Infobip, one of several Croatian companies making great strides on the world stage. Silvio Kutic, co-founder of Infoip, will also be among the speakers.

Conference partners Algebra MBA Business School have also organised a valuable Leadership Talent tournament. Selected talents, from managers to experts, will participate there in a case-study competition where they will represent their companies as selected cross-functional teams. They will fight for scholarships for Algebra MBA education worth more than 100,000 kuna. This innovative business simulation, on the topic of Intrapreneurship and the creation of an ecosystem that encourages Leadership at all levels of management, is an opportunity for teams to become aware and start building the necessary personal and team competencies. Applications are open from August 23 here. 

Changing the mindset is one of the biggest battlegrounds in moving Croatia forward, and the Entrpreneurial Mindset initiative is already reaching its target audience of the entrepreneurs of tomorrow, with its very own Entrpreneurial Mindset for Youth conference which took place earlier this year - coverage in the video below.

For more information on the event, and to register, visit the Poduzetnik dedicated website page.

ZAGREB, 12 Sept, 2021 - Three Croatian schools and a pre-school institutions are recipients of the European Innovative Teaching Award (EITA), introduced this year to encourage the establishment of the European Education Area by 2025, the Croatian Agency for Mobility and EU Programmes has reported.

The new award has been created to enhance the best teaching practices implemented under the Erasmus+ programme and to recognise the work of teachers and their schools that make a contribution to the development of the teaching profession.

The awards are given in four categories: early childhood education and care; primary education; upper and lower general secondary education; upper and lower professional secondary education (technical/vocational institutes).

Each of 33 countries participating in the programme had the opportunity to select four Erasmus+ projects for this prize. 

The first Croatian EITA award winners: Dječji Vrtić Matije Gupca Matija kindergarten from Zagreb, Osnovna Škola Josipa Matoša primary school from Vukovar, Gimnazija Dr. Ivana Kranjčeva secondary school from Đurđevac, and Vrapče Nursing School from Zagreb.

The  kindergarten was awarded for its project on different approaches to the creative teaching of preschool children.

Josip Matoš Primary School won the award for the preparation of guides, picture books and a website involving animals in the educational processes. The project was coordinated with primary schools in Turkey, Hungary and North Macedonia and an institute in Italy.

The secondary school from Đurđevac was awarded for a project aimed at developing civic competencies through the promotion of tolerance, equality and human rights. During the project, the students successfully cooperated with schools in France, Spain, Sweden, Romania and Italy.

The Nursing School published an interesting manual for wound care, infection prevention and nurses+ training protocols. working together with a medical school in Ljubljana and a hospital in Turkey.

The recognition, which has a purely symbolic value, aims to celebrate the achievements of the teachers and schools and give greater visibility to their work, identifying and promoting innovative teaching and learning practices. The goal is to promote mutual learning between teachers and school staff and highlight the value of the Erasmus + programme for the collaboration of teachers at European level.

After the announcement of the winners, the award-giving ceremony in Croatia is scheduled for 18 October online.

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September 12, 2021 - In a ceremony held last night, Toni Kukoč officially became an enshrined member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

The ceremony of the induction of the class of 2021 was held in Springfield, Massachusetts. The Split-born former basketball star was joined by other superstars - Chris Bosh, Yolanda Griffith, Lauren Jackson, Paul Pierce, Ben Wallace, and Chris Webber, and coaches, referees and contributors Rick Adelman, Bill Russell, Jay Wright, Val Ackerman, Howard Garfinkel, Cotton Fitzsimmons, Bob Dandridge, Pearl Moore and Clarence "Fats" Jenkins. As we've previously written, Kukoč was introduced to the Hall of Fame by his former team-mate, Michael Jordan, who recently visited Toni's home town of Split, and Jerry Reinsdorf, Chicago Bulls owner for the past 35 years.

In his emotional speech, Toni remembered his childhood in Split and the importance of Hajduk Split in his youth. He also mentioned numerous coaches and other people who have helped him become the biggest European basketball superstar before his move to the NBA. He also remembered the 1992 Olympics finals, in which Croatia played against the original (some would say, the only) Dream Team, and how much Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen "kicked his butt" in the game, which made him work even harder to make sure he'd become a valuable Chicago Bulls player. That story is told wonderfully and with a lot of humour in the last year's hit documentary series "Last Dance". Toni thanked his former teammates and now both Hall of Famers, Dino Rađa and Vlade Divac, for being present at this ceremony.

You can see the entirety of Toni Kukoč's speech below:

Toni Kukoč started his basketball career in Split's Jugoplastika team, and he became Yugoslavia champion four times and won the European championship three times in a row (the team changed its name). After playing for Benetton Treviso for two years, he went to the Chicago Bulls, who drafted him as the 29th overall pick in 1990. With Bulls, he won the three NBA championships, and in 1996 was given the title of the "Sixth man of the year". After the Bulls, he played for the Philadelphia 76ers, Atlanta Hawks, and Milwaukee Bucks. With the Yugoslavia and Croatia national teams, he won two Olympic silver medals (1988 in Seoul and 1992 in Barcelona), became a World Champion (1990 in Argentina), and was also the MVP of that entire tournament. Toni retired from active basketball in 2006, and is currently a special advisor to the President and COO of the Bulls, Michael Reinsdorf.

With Toni's induction, Croatia is now the second nation, behind the USA, with the most people in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall Of Fame! The list of Croatian Hall of Famers includes the late great players Krešimir Ćosić (inducted in 1996) and Dražen Petrović (2002), legendary coach Mirko Novosel (2007) and Toni's friend and long-time teammate Dino Rađa (2018). And there are some other names on the list of the Hall of Famers, such as George Mikan (inducted in the inaugural year, 1959!) and Rudy Tomjanovich (2020) who are known to be of Croatian descent. It will be interesting to see when the next Croatian player will become a member of the prestigious group since we have not had any major basketball success or any superstars for what feels like decades now.

September the 12th, 2021 - Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic, who is also a leading member of the National Civil Protection Directorate, charged with setting out measures against the spread of the novel coronavirus, sat down to discuss all things ''pandemic'' in Croatia.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Bozinovic recently appeared on ''Interview of the week'', during which he spoke about the situation with the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in Croatia, the excellent tourist season and more.

In the introductory part of the show, the Interior Minister spoke about the increased number of infected people, emphasising that we're now coming to the end of the height of a fantastic 2021 tourist season, which is at the level of record 2019, when we're talking about July and August. Compared to last year, he added, this year there were a lot more people present and activities going on, so infection growth was expected, including the fact that the Delta strain, which is much more contagious, is spreading rapidly and with apparent ease all around the world.

"We aren't at all surprised by the increase in the number of infected people, but we're entering autumn (…) and that's why we are talking all the time about recommendations that always come down to the same - maintaining social distancing, wearing a mask indoors, ventilating indoors and vaccinating people," he told HRT.

When all this is summed up, and when you see experiences from around the world, vaccination against the virus is, he believes, the only way out of the pandemic and the route we must continue to insist on - the more people get vaccinated, the smaller the reservoir is in which the virus will spread.

''Despite everything that has been going on, life mustn't stop, I think that we in the Government and in the Civil Protection Directorate have shown a very high degree of understanding for what people can accept at a given moment. Our measures have never been so strict, nor have they been accompanied by any repressive action by the police, but we can't just let the virus spread without any measures to make the environment more hostile for it in place. The minimum must remain,'' he added.

There will be no new lockdowns, nor will there be any sort of curfew, he said, adding that we have learned that we can calibrate anti-epidemic measures, but the only real protection is vaccination.

President Zoran Milanovic said that "this is all getting very much on people's nerves", and Bozinovic says that this is not a normal situation which we're used to, but the Government has a responsibility on its hands to protect people from the agent as much as possible.

"We have to take certain measures, we have to point out the dangers that are very real - more than 8,300 people in Croatia have died as a result of this virus. The danger is there, we have enough vaccines and everyone in Croatia can protect themselves in the most effective way possible,'' he added.

Some of the arguments against vaccination in this case are that vaccinated people can both spread the infection and become infected themselves. Bozinovic cited the example of the Split hospital, where 93 percent of all those hospitalised were not vaccinated.

"Of course, some vaccinated people get sick, some of them do sadly die, but most of those in that situation who are vaccinated are older, they're people who have various comorbidities, and despite vaccination, they fail to develop a sufficient level of immunity to protect them from SARS-CoV-2,'' Bozinovic told HRT.

Since then, Andrej Plenkovic has come out to state that ''nobody can be forced to be vaccinated'' given the fact that many portals have wrongly interpreted Bozinovic's comments on vaccination. 

"That isn't correct. He was asked about covid certificates, for some reason people thought he was talking about mandatory vaccination, he wasn't. Whoever has published that, please remove it,'' asked Plenkovic.

"We can't introduce the obligation to vaccinate for anyone because we said at the beginning that we wouldn't do that and we're sticking to it. We believe in the intelligence of Croatia's residents. I don't believe that there is anyone in Croatia who doesn't know that covid has existed for more than eighteen months now,'' he added.

He added that the government had done everything in their power to get people to have their vaccinations and that they weren't about to force anyone's hand.

"We can't force anyone to get vaccinated, but at the same time life... has to go on," he said, adding that minimal epidemiological measures are set to remain in place.

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September the 12th, 2021 - Health Minister Vili Beros has stated that two new anti-epidemic measures are being prepared regarding the use of covid certificates.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the National Civil Protection Directorate recently held what has become a regular press conference, during which Minister Vili Beros discussed the current situation with the spread of the novel coronavirus, as well as measures that are in preparation.

''The key to success in this fight lies the hands of those who are still unvaccinated, whether or not all of our efforts simply come to nothing lies with them. Over 81 percent of those newly infected are unvaccinated people. In KBC Split, over 93 percent of those currently hospitalised are unvaccinated. So... don’t those numbers say it all? Over 90 percent, in some places over 94 percent of people on respirators aren't vaccinated. Maths doesn't lie, you don't have to trust me, trust mathematics,'' said the Minister of Health Vili Beros.

"Let's not gamble with this, let's save people's lives, I have to tell you that as your minister. As we have been talking about for some time now, aware of the epidemiological situation, we're preparing two new anti-epidemic measures that would introduce the use of the covid digital certificate, proof of having overcome the illness or some other proof of vaccination in the healthcare system. Several decisions are being prepared in the Ministry of Health on that topic,'' announced Beros.

He was asked if covid certificates would be applied in shopping centres.

"Every day we're talking about this issue. In the general context, we're thinking about other departments as well. I think that the department of social welfare is also the department where this should be introduced. But, if we think more broadly, depending on the unfolding of the ongoing pandemic... the profession will make a decision on shopping centres,'' he said.

"We are aware of the limitations of these covid certificates, but that being said, we think that it continues to be the best way at this moment in time,'' Minister Vili Beros said.

For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, make sure to check out our dedicated COVID-19 section and choose your preferred language.