ZAGREB, 6 Feb 2022 - 20 years since its introduction, project Free Electronic Books had more than 4 million users at the end of 2021 and nearly 300 titles, of which more than 250 are written by contemporary Croatian authors.

In 2021, a record 31 titles were published as part of the project. Of the 298 titles published to date, 264 are currently available on the project website.

Last year's titles were published with the financial support of the City of Zagreb, the City of Rijeka and the Ministry of Culture and Media.

According to data provided by the Google Analytics service, in 2021 the project website registered 243,250 users, who read 1,208,869 e-books online and downloaded another 68,629 e-books. This means that users read and/or downloaded a total of 197,498 e-books in 2021.

The most read fiction book in 2021 was the novel "Sloboština Barbie" by Maša Kolanović (4,599 readers), followed by Henry David Thoreau's "Walden" (3,788) and the novel "Tuđi život" (Someone Else's Life) by Marina Vujčić (3,014).

The most read poetry book was "Tri jeseni" (Three Autumns) by Anna Akhmatova (2,357).

As many as 48 titles had more than a thousand readers last year, said the Society for Promoting New Media Literature.

At the end of 2021, the project surpassed 4 million users, which is nearly 200,000 per year, and books were read and/or downloaded 2,336,009 times, which means that each title had over 7,800 users on average.

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October 28, 2021 - The city of Rijeka will fund free menstrual products for Rijeka schoolgirls from next semester! 

Free menstrual products will be available to students in Rijeka elementary schools founded by the City of Rijeka from the next semester, Deputy Mayor Sandra Krpan announced on Wednesday, reports Index.hr.

The city administration has earmarked HRK 200,000 from the city budget for this next year.

Deputy Mayor Goran Palčevski pointed out that introducing hygiene supplies in schools is a step towards the planned introduction of health education in elementary schools in Rijeka.

The project was inspired by the success of Civic Education, with the Rijeka model being adopted in many other areas in Croatia, he said.

Palčevski stated that by the end of the current term, the city authorities plan to prepare a health education program and then introduce it in schools in the second term.

The introduction of free menstrual products in schools was prompted by the city government's research by the PaRiter association, which showed that some girls do not have access to hygiene supplies.

The program coordinator for women's rights and reproductive justice in the PaRiter association, Marinella Matejčić, warned that the problem is the lack of hygienic conditions in schools, such as garbage cans, but also hot water and soap in some schools.

PaRiter also confirmed on Facebook that the City has decided to introduce free sanitary pads for girls.

"Now at 10 am, the City of Rijeka is announcing important news - it will introduce free menstrual products in all elementary schools in the city! We are incredibly proud that our research #AuntPeriod has received such proactive reactions.

However, we still hope that the Croatian government will soon understand the unambiguous messages to the public and reduce the menstrual tax to #5 percent, to reduce social inequality, remove sexism from the law, and show that they are ready to give up misogynistic levies," the PaRiter Association, an association for human rights and civic participation, posted on Facebook. 

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated lifestyle section.

December 16, 2020 – The Rijeka utility company for cleaning and waste management "Čistoća" introduced five more new smart modular containers for mixed municipal and valuable, recyclable waste in the center of Rijeka.

As Rijeka.hr writes, to upgrade the existing waste collection service, "Čistoća "already installed 12 smart containers in June 2019, of which 7 in the very center of Rijeka. Five new smart containers will be installed in the city center area: in Trpimirova Street and on the Riva (at bus stations), on Karolina Riječka Pier, on the 111th Brigade of the Croatian Army Square, and Klobučarić Square.

The director of "Čistoća", Jasna Kukuljan, said that the containers have built-in fill sensors that send data to the management software, that is, the tanks themselves report the need for emptying. They also have a press that compresses waste, thus enabling the disposal of more waste than is possible in conventional containers.

Artists will paint the containers

All the needed energy-smart containers use a photovoltaic panel located on top of the container body. Using advanced technologies achieves significant savings in time, human resources, and energy and contributes to reducing emissions of pollutants into the environment.

In addition to being useful, Rijeka artists will also beautifully paint the containers. Namely, through the competition, "Čistoća" selected the 20 best artists from Rijeka who will paint smart containers with their works. Therefore, they will undoubtedly be interesting and attractive elements of urban equipment.

These are the artworks: Biciklistica, author Tina Radosavljević; Cranes, by Ariana Sušanj; Octopus, by Hana Dutina; Let's recycle in the city that flows by the author Nora Vlaša, and Love your city – think green, author Mirta Tomulić.

Rijeka separates a third of the waste

Deputy Mayor Marko Filipović emphasized the importance of applying new technologies in all segments, including the one related to waste collection, which places Rijeka at the very top of Smart Cities – cities that are entirely ready for the digital transition.

In addition to containers, citizens collect waste separately through recycling yards. In Rijeka, they currently have three fixed and two mobile recycling yards at their disposal, and the plan is to expand the system of recycling yards.

Together with waste collected in recycling yards, Rijeka separates almost 30 percent of its waste.

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