Waste - Why care? (Croatia)

Waste management is in Croatia considered to be one of the priority issues affecting all the components of the environment. The Waste Management Strategy for the Republic of Croatia [1] and the Waste Management Plan [2] as its implementation document are elements of a continuous waste management planning process which reflects on all the levels, from local to national, and appears as a segment in other sectors (e.g. water resources management, mining, veterinary medicine, health care,  land-use planning, building, etc.).

The Waste Act [3] and the Waste Management Plan [2] have set up a concept that focuses on for waste avoidance, increase in waste recovery and use in power generation, reduction in quantity of material for final disposal and consequently lowering risks for the environment, climate and human health. It is planned to establish an integrated waste management system with planned completion of remediation and closure of official landfills and illegal dump sites, to carry out remediation of the highly waste-loaded sites in the environment, and to establish maximum 21 regional/county waste management centres.