Circular material use rate

The circular material use rate in Croatia increased continuously from 1.6% in 2010 to 6.2% in 2023, which was still significantly lower than the EU average (11.8%). A total increase by 4.6 percentage points was achieved between 2010 and 2023. However, the annual average progress between 2017 and 2023 was rather small, at only 0.2 percentage points.

Domestic material consumption is increasing, but resource productivity and, most significantly, waste recovery demonstrated also upward trends. Within the last few years, investments have been made in infrastructure for the recovery of non-metallic minerals (construction waste), and there has been a significant increase in the trade of recyclable materials, mostly metals, since 2019.

Croatia has no comprehensive circular economy strategy, but several sectoral documents apply the circular economy concept and include measures on secondary material use, sustainable tourism, green public procurement, eco-innovation, circularity in buildings and the EU targets in the waste sector, among others.

However, even with the intensive implementation of the planned measures, the trend suggests that it will be very difficult to meet the target by 2030.