April 17, 2023 - The European Union recently announced plans to reduce household waste by a fifth, increasing the pressure for an environmentally conscious way of life. Sustainable Croatia makes the top five countries that increased their recycling rates.

As a result, the company Clear it Waste, in cooperation with Eurostat, conducted a survey of the countries to see how much they have reduced the total amount of waste in the past ten years. And according to the results of the survey, Croatia has something to be proud of - from 2012 to now, the amount of recycling in Croatia has increased by 114 percent, which ranks it in the top 5 countries in terms of progress within the EU.

Slovakia is in first place, having increased recycling rates by 265%. Poland follows with 236%, and Latvia is just over 200%, while in Bulgaria they managed to increase the amount of waste available for recycling by 162%.

After Croatia and its 114%, Lithuania (89%), the Czech Republic (87%), Estonia (59%), and Slovenia (43%) follow, which started on the path of "green living" even before 2012...

In particular, Slovakia's success in this regard is fascinating because in 2012, only 13.4% of waste was recyclable, and in 2021 it reached 40.3%, while Bulgaria is at an enviable 65.5%. On the other hand, Croatia went from a low of 14.7% in 2012 to 31.4% of usable waste in 2021, which is still almost 20% behind the EU average (49.6%).

With the exception of Bulgaria, the Central European countries Austria (62.3%) and Slovenia (60%) are still leading, followed by the Benelux countries: the Netherlands (57.8%), Luxembourg (55.3%) and Belgium (53.3%).

According to the same survey, the lowest result was recorded in Romania, which went in the opposite direction from its first neighbor, Bulgaria, because the recycling rate in the mentioned ten years (2012-2021) fell by 24%, and significant drops also occurred in Denmark (-19% ) and Sweden (-16%). In addition to the most significant drop, Romanians are the worst overall, with only 11.3% of reusable waste.

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

December the 5th, 2022 - There are some new rules coming to the Croatian recycling process, as well as a new ban on some of the thinnest plastic bags still available, which are typically used to carry fruit and vegetables before unfortunately often being unceremoniously discarded.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, since this year, the use of light plastic bags has been banned across Croatia because they can't be used more than once, while very light (usually transparent) plastic bags, which we most often use when buying fruit and vegetables, have remained in use. However, due to the excessive use of these bags, which after one-time use often end up being discarded in nature or on the streets, a fee for them will also be introduced in Croatia from next year.

"The price of these bags will be determined by the merchants themselves, and the purpose is to reduce their overall use. They now have the label ''use them sparingly'' on them in an attempt made to influence consumer habits. However, now the bags will have a label on them indicating their cost, so that customers know that they need to pay for them,'' said Sanja Radovic, head of the Sector for Sustainable Waste Management of the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development for HRT.

In addition to the above, a new Croatian recycling process is coming. The new regulation will change the labels printed on returnable items such as plastic bottles, which currently amounts to 50 lipa. As of next year, that price will be calculated in cents with Croatia's transition to the euro.

"The new regulation, which will enter into force next year, will then determine the actual amount for the refund in euros (cents). The second thing is that this system is being extended to include other packaging, it still only regards bottles, however, instead of the limit we had now of two decilitres equal to or greater, the lower limit will no longer exist, and the upper limit will be three litres for such packaging for drinks,'' explained Sanja Radovic when discussing the new Croatian recycling rules for 2023.

Another piece of news is that milk, which is sold in tetrapacks, will also receive a label for return compensation/recycling.

"Croatian companies, as we've seen, mostly adapt to the current situation on the market by looking for solutions. What we can see is that they tend to incorporate a greater proportion of recycled materials into their final product(s). On the market at this moment in time, we have a situation where those prices have become higher than the basic raw material,'' said Ana Falak, the director of the Chemical Industry Association from the Croatian Employers' Association (HUP).

These new bans and new Croatian recycling rules will directly affect production cuts and jobs next year.

For more, keep up with our news section.

October the 6th, 2022 - The Zagreb Z Centre (Centar) shopping mall has introduced a praiseworthy and very environmentally aware move by which people can come and swap their harmful plastic bags for material ones which can be used repeatedly.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the Zagreb Z Centre is allowing people to become a concrete part of the green transition and has been doing so since the end of September. It will allow people to engage in the eco-action called ''replace your bag/vrecicu zamijeni'' until October the 9th or until supplies run out.

With this commendable campaign, everyone who brings in ten plastic bags to the Zagreb Z Centre will receive an eco cotton bag as a gift, the design of which is by a 12-year-old girl, Lara, a member of the much more environmentally conscious generation.

With the mentorship and support of Jelena Lasic, a qualified designer who completed her design studies at the renowned Parsons School of Design in New York and throughout her career collaborated with huge international names such as Dolce&Gabbana, Donna Karan and Cavalli, the newly created Zagreb Z Centre canvas bag is a unique example of collaboration between generations.

"With this project, we wanted to encourage people to come and be an active part of the change because plastic waste is increasingly polluting the seas and, according to research, there could be more plastic than fish in our seas and oceans by 2050. Today, there are more than 150 million tonnes of plastic dumped in our seas, and 730 tonnes of waste are thrown into the Mediterranean alone every single day. As much as 49% of the waste in the seas is single-use plastic such as plastic bags, plastic cutlery, plastic bottles, etc. As plastic represents a serious blow to the health of our planet, we thought that we should try to put an end to it with our example - even if it only involves small steps taken within each household,'' explained Mirna Cavrak Talapko, the marketing manager of the Zagreb Z Centre.

According to her, the plastic bags collected in cooperation with the Vestigium Association will be given a new life. More specifically, they will be turned into seating pads intended for younger visitors to the children's shows often organised within the Z Centre, and in addition, in accordance with the principles of sustainability in business, the facility also plans to reduce the use of plastic through all future activities, especially regarding the creation of decorations inside the shopping centre specific to changes in scenography during different occasions and seasons.

In this year's first campaign, people can freely join in by bringing in ten clean plastic bags of any size to the Zagreb Z Centre and exchanging them for a reusable cotton designer bag. The exchange will take place with the employees located on the ground floor of the ''North/Sjever'' building near the elevator, from Monday to Friday from 17:00 to 21:00 and twice on Saturdays and Sundays - from 10:00 to 14:00 and then from 16:00 to 21:00.

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

September the 26th, 2022 - The Croatian recycling trend, as well as that of the proper sorting and disposal of waste, has been increasing in recent years. It is still very far from the European Union's (EU) goals, however.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Borivoje Dokler writes, back in 2021, a massive 1,766,560 tonnes of municipal waste were generated across Croatia, which brought the total amount back to the value of what it was in 2018, according to the report on municipal waste of the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development. Compared to the previous year of 2020, this represents an increase of four percent.

"If we look at the annual amount of municipal waste per inhabitant, it amounted to 454 kilograms, which is the highest value in the observed period from 1995 to 2021. This can be attributed in part to the 2021 population census, which resulted in significantly lower values ​​than the EUROSTAT population estimates used in previous years," the report stated.

One of the significant factors that influenced the increase in the total amount of generated municipal waste is the greater activity of the service sector after slowing down or closing during 2020 due to the emergence of the global coronavirus pandemic.

The Ministry also pointed out that in 2021, the continuous implementation of educational and informative activities aimed at raising peoples' level of awareness about their role in the creation and prevention of waste generation and the separation of waste at the point of generation continued.

Investments are being made in the infrastructure for the proper separate collection of municipal waste, such as containers for such collection from the doorstep, the construction of recycling yards, the procurement of vehicles, the construction of sorting facilities, etc., which resulted in an increase in the number of local self-government units (LGUs) with separate collection (from 514 to 519).

As such, the share of separately collected municipal waste stood at 43 percent, or 761,683 tonnes, and the share of mixed municipal waste in the collected waste was 57 percent, or 1,004,877 tonnes, the report states.

In 2021, there was also an increase in the number of LGUs across the country in which the separate collection of biowaste from municipal waste was carried out. The aforementioned activity was carried out in 39 percent of LGUs, or 215 LGUs, which is 23 LGUs more than in the previous year. 122,175 tonnes of biowaste from municipal waste were collected separately, equal to 25 percent of the estimated total amount (494,583 tonnes), which is an increase of 1 percentage point compared to 2020.

As a result, we now have ample room to talk about the risk of not achieving the national Goal 1.3. from the Waste Management Plan of the Republic of Croatia for the period 2017-2022 (PGO RH) prescribed for the separate collection of bio-waste.

The result of further investment in the opening and equipping of new recycling yards in 2021 is visible in the increase in the number of active recycling yards from 186 to 201. There has also been an increase in the amount of municipal waste collected through recycling yards by 5 percent compared to the previous year. Back in 2021, recycling yards received a total of 63,173 tonnes of municipal waste. Bulky waste (41 percent), wood waste (19 percent), and paper and cardboard (9 percent) were collected the most. This points to Croatian recycling habits being better than they once were.

Of the total amount of separately collected municipal waste (all types of municipal waste except mixed municipal waste), 560,129 tonnes were recovered, while the amount of actually recycled waste amounted to 555,320 tonnes (removed impurities and non-targeted materials). Thus, the municipal waste recovery rate in 2021 stood at 32 percent, and the recycling rate stood at 31 percent, which is 2 percentage points more than in 2020, when the recycling rate was 29 percent.

The counties with the best results are Medjimurje County (40 percent), Koprivnica-Krizevci County (33 percent) and Varazdin County (31 percent), and the counties with the lowest recovery rate within the framework of public services are Lika-Senj County (2 percent) and Zadar County (2 percent).

After adding up the additionally determined quantities and estimates (waste from the service sector, waste collected within the framework of the national system for special categories of waste organised by the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund (FZOEU) and the quantities reported by retailers, the highest estimated recovery rates and further are recorded for Medjimurje County (55 percent), Varazdin County (48 percent), Koprivnica-Krizevci County (45 percent) and the City of Zagreb (41 percent), while the counties with the lowest recovery rates are still Lika-Senj County (19 percent ) and Zadar County (20 percent).

The amount of biodegradable municipal waste deposited in landfills across the Republic of Croatia was 594,107 tonnes. Thus, the goal from Article 55 of the ZGO related to the reduction of biodegradable municipal waste disposal has not yet been achieved.

For more on Croatian recycling and waste disposal habits, make sure to check out our dedicated lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, 6 Feb 2022 - The Island Movement NGO has called on the residents of Croatian Adriatic islands to dispose of and sort their waste properly so it can be transported to the mainland for recycling, while local and state authorities have been urged to create infrastructure to promote a circular economy.

"Waste disposal is a major challenge for the islands, especially during the tourist season," warned Paula Bolfan, the movement's coordinator who organised the first in a series of "island dialogues" last week.

Speaking in an online discussion on the circular economy on the islands, Bolfan cited the example of Silba island off the city of Zadar where plastic wage management is a challenge. "Retail shops that are not larger than the size prescribed by law do not have to accept empty plastic bottles, and Silba only has two such shops, leaving the island full of plastic bottles during the summer."

Antonio Viskić from the Cres Lošinj utility company, which covers the two northern Adriatic islands, stressed the importance of building a regional waste management centre, saying "we don't have a single active waste dump on Cres and Lošinj any longer, as all the waste goes to the Istrian regional centre."

"We have set up separate containers for paper, glass and plastic waste, and have built stations for the transport of mixed municipal waste from the islands and recycling yards. Also, investment has begun in a waste sorting facility at Mali Lošinj," Viskić said of the steps the two islands were taking to achieve the circular economy.

Katarina Gregov, director of the Tourism Board of the island of Zlarin, off Šibenik, spoke of the "For a Plastic-Free Zlarin" initiative. "In order to reduce our plastic footprint, we have developed an idea to replace all single-use plastic products with multi-use and alternative materials," she said.

The initiative was launched four years ago and is supported by the entire island community, including cafe, restaurant and shop owners, who stopped using disposable plastic products. This volunteer project was praised by former president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović at an annual UN General Assembly meeting.

Irena Hrković from the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund commended the cooperation with Cres and Lošinj, announcing that this year local government units would be able to apply for tenders for vehicles using alternative fuels and for funding to increase their recycling capacity and clean up their landfills.

Hrković said that illegal landfills were a major problem, adding that nearly HRK 28 million (€3.7m) had been spent on landfill remediation.

Professor Davor Škrlec from the Zagreb Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, who had dealt with the issue of the circular economy as a former member of the European Parliament, said that "the problem with waste disposal on the islands is seasonality."

"It is necessary to build sorting facilities on the islands so that waste can be properly separated and then transported to a waste processing facility on the mainland," Škrlec said.

For more, check out our lifestyle section.

October the 26th, 2021 - The Croatian south is still very much lagging behind the northern part of the country in terms of waste disposal, recycling and proper management.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Darko Bicak writes, the circular economy, ie waste management so that it is almost all completely recovered and reused as a raw material or fuel, has become a principle of development of the European Union's economy, which Croatia is trying to follow.

Ambitious EU targets call for at least 70 percent of municipal waste to be recycled by 2030, and for 2025 to ban the disposal of recyclable waste - plastics, metals, glass, paper, cardboard and biodegradable waste.

Problems in Zagreb...

Although official figures show that slightly more than 40 percent of waste is collected separately in Croatia, which is a prerequisite for recycling, skeptics say that less than 10 percent is actually recycled and recovered. Problems in the waste collection system are ubiquitous in Croatia, which we're able to witness every day with the example of Zagreb.

However, the current report on municipal waste from the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development says that in 2020, 1.69 million tonnes of municipal waste was generated, or 418 kilograms per capita. This is a decrease of 6.5 percent compared to the year before, and the most significant reductions were recorded for mixed municipal and packaging waste.

According to the competent ministry, one of the significant factors that influenced the reduction of the total amount of generated municipal waste is the coronavirus pandemic, which significantly reduced the work of the service sector in 2020 - closing restaurants, less tourism, a huge reduction in the number of overnight stays, etc.

The continuous implementation of educational activities aimed at raising citizens' overall awareness of their role in generating and preventing waste has additionally contributed to all improvements. At the same time, investments were made in the infrastructure for the separate collection of municipal waste, such as containers for separate collection from the doorstep, the construction of recycling yards, the installation of containers for separate collection in public areas, the procurement of vehicles and the construction of more sorting plants.

The share of mixed municipal waste in the collected stood at 59 percent - 998,807 tonnes. The share of separately collected municipal waste was 41 percent (694,160 tonnes). Although this is a negligible increase of 4 percent, it still lags behind the estimated planned dynamics.

Back in 2020, there was also an increase in the number of local self-government units (LGUs) in which the separate collection of biowaste from communal waste was carried out. This activity was carried out in 35 percent of local self-government units, ie 192 of them.

''This mainly regards biodegradable waste from kitchens and canteens and waste from gardens and parks. This is 118,692 tonnes or 24 percent of total generated municipal biowaste. Compared to pre-pandemic 2019, this represnts an increase of 22 percent, which still lags behind the plan for achieving the national goal,'' they emphasised from the relevant ministry.

Recycling yards reported a total of 60,146 t of municipal waste, which is 25 percent more. Bulky waste (42 percent), wood waste (22 percent) and biowaste (8 percent) were collected the most. The highest rates of recovery of municipal waste collected under the organisation of local self-government units were recorded in Medjimurje County (47 percent), Koprivnica-Krizevci County (40 percent), Varazdin County (37 percent) and the City of Zagreb (36 percent), and the lowest was recorded in Lika-Senj County and Zadar County, with 3 percent each. This means that the Croatian south is still lagging quite a lot in this regard.

64,010 tonnes of municipal waste was received for composting in ten composting plants, and although the amount of compost didn't change when compared to 2019, there was a significant increase in the quantities received by 57 percent. During 2020, a total of 941.3 thousand tonnes or 56 percent of the total generated municipal waste ended up in landfills.

In addition to 56 percent of municipal waste being sent for disposal and 34 percent sent for recovery, 9 percent of municipal waste was sent to mechanical-biological waste treatment plants (MBO plants), while the remaining 1 percent went to some other pre-treatment procedures.

For more, check out our lifestyle section.

October 21, 2021 - EKO LAB is a place to learn, exchange knowledge, and experiment to develop critical thinking, creativity, and innovation for high school students. The program is realized through the cooperation of schools, civil society, scientists, and the community, to create conditions to create a more sustainable and responsible future together. 

In 2019, the EKO LAB project began, which funds were provided by the Office for Other Governments of the Republic of Croatia within the Croatian-Swiss Cooperation Program. The project leader was the Poreč Association for the Improvement of Life Quality, with Pula High School, Technical School Pula, School of Applied Arts and Design Pula, and the Croatian Association Interdisciplinary Artists (HUiU) as partners. As a result, the project was approved for the entire requested amount and, in the second round of the call, was the best among the approved projects.

"It all started with chit-chat at the Pula market where Petra and I met by chance. One of those brainstorming meetings when ideas just come up. So it's from one "what if we ...?" conversation that created the future EKO LAB," says Marko Kalčić, a professor of French at the Pula High School and one of the members of the Eco Board of the school.

Both nature lovers and those active in its protection designed and applied for the project and ultimately implemented it with partners and numerous associates. Environmental protection, i.e., the protection of our planet, should become a priority at all levels. To create a more sustainable and responsible future, we cannot and must not think about that future without young people. EKO LAB includes them.

"EKO LAB is designed as a place to meet, exchange knowledge, create, and experiment for young people to develop critical thinking, nurture creativity and have the conditions to easily come up with ideas that may become future successful green solutions," says Petra Počanić from the Zona Association.

Through the project, young people learned about the problem of plastic waste, types of plastic, reducing the use of plastic, recycling, and innovations in this area. In addition, they learned about the processes of creating new products - from understanding problems to creating prototypes - and socially responsible business. Most importantly, they were given conditions for hands-on learning as well. Namely, as part of the project, the unused space inside the school was adapted, and small machines for recycling plastic were rented - a washing machine and dryer, a crusher, and an extruder for filament. Young people were thus introduced to the recycling process. Also, 3D printers were used for prototypes of product ideas they devised during the project. Finally, the whole process was presented at the final exhibition in the Croatian Association of Interdisciplinary Artists (HUiU), as part of EKO WEEK, or sustainable development week.

“Recycling may not be the happiest solution to the plastic waste problem at the moment. However, if young people can learn about these processes early enough, experiment, think and make mistakes, they will come up with better solutions quickly. Moreover, being able to work on machines opens up many opportunities for the development of future ideas," adds Petra.

"We ambitiously designed the project as a collaboration of three schools, with young people who have different skills, and they are connected by one thing in common - nature protection and responsibility to the community. There were many challenges, trials, and errors. Many things would be different now, but it is the essence of the project - to learn together, make mistakes and be better next time," says Sabina Damiani from Zona.

Despite many challenges, undoubtedly the pandemic and the inability to reunite, the project found itself awarded. Studio Tumpić-Prenc designed an awareness campaign for the EKO LAB and aMORE festival on the problem of plastic waste. The campaign won gold at the European Green Award, which awards prizes for outstanding contributions to sustainable development in Europe. It was also selected for an exhibition as part of the prestigious Cannes Lions festival. Furthermore, it found itself in the company of socially responsible Great Ads for Good projects chosen by the international non-profit organization ACT Responsible. The exhibition includes the world's best works exclusively in the field of socially responsible projects of non-governmental and charitable organizations and companies in the areas of solidarity, human rights, education, and the environment.

EKO LAB continued its journey. Its longevity and development were the initial desire of the applicant. Pula High School ensured the continuation of the project through the Central European Initiative tender. In the competition of more than 70 schools, the Pula project "Plastic scholastic: towards better education and innovation on environmental sustainability" was in the top 3 and received the support of 20,000.00 euros. The plan is to additionally equip EKO LAB 3Devo with recycling machines and create even better conditions for young people at the Pula High School.

“We continue to work on the problem of plastic waste and disposable plastics to create new useful objects from waste in the recycling process and experiment with recycling processes. Who knows, maybe there is a new material expert or recycling process expert among our young people who will contribute to the solution of plastic waste disposal," Marko said.

The students will design new products with the Local Action Group in Fisheries "Istrian Batana." Through the project, students will better understand the goals of sustainable development of the UN, the process of joint creation, and work on a common goal for the benefit of the local community. Through the process, they will learn new skills and competencies and work together to create new products, promote social responsibility and become bearers of positive change in their local community and beyond.

"The greatest satisfaction is when a project is taken over by the community for which it was designed and continues to work on it. This is the case with the Pula EKO LAB. I am sure that Pula High School will continue its activities in the best possible way, and we will certainly continue successful cooperation and development of the EKO LAB project," concludes Sabina.

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

September the 20th, 2021 - 407 Croatian locations (cities and municipalities) received containers for separate waste collection from households that were procured and distributed through the Fund for Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency recently.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/PD and VL native tim writes, to be more precise, Croatian locations received 1,230,695 various bins and containers of various volumes for the separate collection of paper, plastic, biowaste and other recyclable waste.

The containers were procured as part of a project with a total investment of around 370 million kuna, and the vast majority of this amount was provided through EU funds through the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development.

“Logistically speaking, this was a very demanding project. After the public procurement procedure was carried out and contracts were signed with the selected bidders, a schedule of activities was made and deadlines for their execution were agreed.

In the Environmental Protection Sector, several teams have been formed that have been on the ground almost every day for the past six months and in constant communication with representatives of local governments, utilities and suppliers,'' explained Aleksandra Cilic, pointing out that despite all of the unprecedented challenges the coronavirus pandemic and the earthquake presented, this project has been successfully implemented on time.

She added that they also had the professional support of other sectors and services from within the same fund, which took on a lot of work and without whose help this project couldn't have been successfully implemented.

"Now that almost every household will have the proper containers for separate waste collection, no one will have an alibi or an excuse not to do so," said Cilic.

The rate of separate waste collection from Croatia is encouragingly growing from year to year. According to the data for last year, it amounted to 41 percent, and it is to be expected that the result for this year will be even better with this newly purchased and distributed communal infrastructure.

According to Cilic, the number of Croatian household properly separating their household waste will certainly grow, but education at all levels is crucial - from utility companies engaged in the processes involved to regular citizens.

"This summer, a video of an Italian tourist who wanted to throw his plastic packaging in the designated waste container spread across social media, but after he lifted the lid, he was unpleasantly surprised when he saw that all the waste had ended up being placed in the same bag. Unfortunately, such a reckless practice of some utility companies puts a dampener on all the efforts made to establish a waste management system and it undermines public confidence in the same system,'' stated Cilic.

Regardless of such isolated cases, it is crucial that people collect and dispose of their waste separately because all useful components, especially paper, plastic, glass and bio-waste are all properly recycled or composted. It is therefore necessary to transform a take-use-discard linear economy into a true circular economy, which is why thinking about sustainable circular systems needs to be implemented across all activities and sectors, including policies, products, production processes and business models. Education and public information play a key role in all this, and many Croatian locations now having the proper means should mean there can be no more excuses.

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

ZAGREB, 15 Aug, 2021 - The Croatian municipal waste sorting champions, small municipalities in the northern Međimurje County, stand next to the most advanced European regions, while the national average remains below 20% and some cities, including county seats, are still not sorting any waste.

The data comes from an Environment and Nature Protection Bureau preliminary report on municipal waste sorting in 2020.

Croatia was supposed to recycle 50% of its municipal waste by 2020, so the fact that the percentage rose from 11.52% in 2018 to 18% last year does not make experts optimistic.

Of the ten municipalities and towns with the highest sorting percentage, nine are in Međimurje County, followed by Krk island and several other cities.

Of the 556 local government units in Croatia, Belica Municipality ranks first, sorting 79.76% of its waste, followed by the town of Prelog with 70.98%.

Five local governments which sort between 60 and 70% of their waste are also in Međimurje County, as are five sorting between 50 and 60%.

In the latter group are also the town of Koprivnica and seven local government units on Krk. This island in the northern Adriatic was the first in Croatia to sort waste and is close to becoming an energy self-sufficient island without carbon emissions. The group also includes Semeljci in Osijek-Baranja County.

All those local government units have met the waste-sorting target set by the EU.

The list of local government units sorting zero of their waste is much longer, the champions being Karlovac and Dubrovnik-Neretva counties.

Plitvice Lakes Municipality, where the national park of the same name is located, is one of six in Lika-Senj County that sort zero of their waste, including the county seat Gospić.

Virovitica-Podravina County also has six local government units sorting zero of their waste, while Šibenik-Knin and Zadar counties each have five, Brod-Posavina, Sisak-Moslavina and Split-Dalmatia counties each have four, Zagreb County has two, and Bjelovar-Bilogora and Primorje-Gorski Kotar counties each have one local government unit not sorting any waste.

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May 17, 2021 - The northern Croatian city of Varaždin has been awarded an EU grant of HRK 3.4 million (€453,000) to build a second waste recycling yard, which is 60 percent of the cost of the project.

The grant agreement was signed by Mayor Ivan Čehok on Monday, the city administration said.

Under the law, cities with a population of more than 25,000 are required to have two recycling yards. The Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development and the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund will provide the rest of the funds for the second yard.

Čehok said that the second recycling yard would ensure faster, better, and more convenient disposal of all types of municipal waste.

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