May the 20th, 2022 - The Koprivnica city council is set to introduce harsh cash penalties for those cause dumping waste in inappropriate places (fly-tipping) and disposing of waste in an inappropriate manner in the provided containers.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, cash penalties are being prepared for individuals and households in Koprivnica who don't comply with the decisions on municipal waste collection. The proposal of the new decision specifies exactly what the punishments will be, and what they'll be issued for exactly. Changes with contractual penalties have yet to be approved by the Koprivnica City Council, and should take effect on August the 1st, 2022, as reported by local portal Danica.hr.

The Koprivnica City Council penalties explained:

- If a user doesn't hand over the municipal waste collected via the appropriate waste container at least once in two months, a contractual penalty shall be charged in the amount of 0.10 kuna per litre of the contracted container's capacities.

- If a user doesn't allow Komunalac (the communal company) full access to the waste container at the agreed location from which waste is taken away when that place is not in a public area, a contractual penalty shall be charged in the amount of 100 kuna for each unrealised removal time.

- If the treatment of waste collected endangers human health or leads to the scattering of waste around the container or causes discomfort to another person due to the smell of said scattered waste, a contractual penalty will be charged in the amount of 100 kuna for each such treatment of the waste at the billing point.

- If a user acts irresponsibly with the waste container (such as causing damage to or destroying the container), a contractual penalty will be charged depending on the volume: for a container of of 80 l and 120 l, the fine will stand at 350 kuna; for a 240 l container, the fine is 400 kuna; for a 360 l container, the fine is 750 kuna; for a container of 1100 l the fine is 2100 kuna in total.

Biowaste

- If the user fails to hand over hazardous municipal waste separately, to the recycling yard or mobile recycling yard, or does not handle it in accordance with the regulations governing the management of a special category of waste, the contractual penalty is charged in the amount of HRK 500 for each such case

- If a user fails to hand over mixed municipal waste, recyclable municipal waste, bulky waste or biowaste at the place of origin separetely, or doesn't classify the waste in the containers in accordance with their purpose, a contractual penalty is charged in the amount of 250 kuna for each case of incorrect classification

- If a user doesn't compost biowaste at the place of origin, and it is stated that they compost it, a contractual penalty shall be charged in the amount of 250 kuna.

Written warnings from the Koprivnica City Council

The amount of a certain contractual penalty will be shown on the public service bill when it arrives. When several users use a common container for waste (such as in the case of residential buildings), the payment of the fine, in case the responsibility of a single individual isn't determined, will be borne by all of the users of the service who use a common container in accordance with the shares in the container's use, reports Danica.hr.

If it is determined that the user of the service has committed several ''offences'' for which the obligation to pay a contractual penalty is prescribed, Komunalac will calculate and charge them a contractual penalty for each one of these offences.

The communal company may also issue a written warning to the user instead of a penalty, but only in case of first non-fulfillment, ie improper fulfillment of the obligation for which a contractual penalty is usually imposed or in case there are circumstances that justify such an omission, and which circumstances the user must prove.

At the next session, the Koprivnica City Council should make a decision to amend the current Decision on this matter which will put these new rules into force.

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