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Vinko Mladineo: The Fund is
investing in corporate sector
In May 2005, the Environmental Protection
and Energy Efficiency Fund
issued a public invitation to tender
for allocation of funds earmarked for
projects aimed at the reduction of
the emission of harmful gases and
encouragement of cleaner manufacturing
processes and another tender
for projects focusing on energy
efficiency, use of renewable energy
sources and sustainable construction.
Thirty projects aimed at the reduction
of harmful gas emission and cleaner
manufacturing processes were
submitted and sixty-one projects
related to energy efficiency and the
use of renewable energy sources. The
Fund received a total of 91 bids from
legal persons, mostly corporations.
After the expert group evaluated
all submitted projects, at the Funds
management board session held in
December 2005, the Fund accepted
14 projects aimed at reduction of the
emission of harmful gases and cleaner
manufacturing processes.
Lidija Tošić: Municipal services
and authorized collectors will no
longer accept waste packaging
from citizens
Pursuant to the Ministry of Environmental
Protection, Physical Planning
and Construction’s decision, as of
March 16, municipal services and authorized
collectors are no longer allowed
to accept waste packaging from
citizens and issue refunds. Under the
Ordinance on Packaging and Waste
Packaging, as of March 17, only stores
are allowed to do so. Under the Ordinance,
sellers are obliged to set up
post-consumer packaging collection
points in line with hygienic/sanitary
requirements. The citizens will be allowed
to dispose of no more than ten
items at the time. Packaging must be
empty and clean, not crumpled, with
or without screw stoppers.
Lidija Tošić: The Ministry of
Environmental Protection issued
an invitation to tender for
remediation of hazardous waste
landfills
The Ministry of Environmental Protection,
Physical Planning and Construction
issued an invitation to tender
for remediation of illegal landfills
burdened with hazardous waste,
industrial sites polluted with hazardous
substances and locations with
large amounts of dross and ash. All
applicants must submit their detailed
remediation programs in line with the
Croatian Law on Environmental Protection
which stipulates that such
programs must be site-specific, take
into consideration long-term effects
on the environment and contain
exact action plan, dead-lines and a
funding plan.
(Ž. B.): New recycling regulations
After the successful implementation
of the Ordinance on Packaging and
Waste Packaging, the Ministry of
Environmental Protection, Physical
Planning and Construction is drafting
several new directives, pursuant to
the Law on Waste, which are to regulate
recycling of other kinds of waste
- scrap tires, scrap vehicles, medical
waste, electronic and electric appliances
(TV-sets, telephones, computers,
refrigerators, stoves and other household
appliances), waste oil, used
accumulators and batteries.
The objective of such regulations is
to clean the environment, reduce the
amount of waste ending up on landfills
and encourage reuse. The main
novelty is that the new ordinances
envisage recycling charges levied on
manufacturers and importers, based
on the European “polluter pays” principle.
As the monetary incentive for
recycling PET packaging has proven
successful, the Ministry is discussing
introduction of such incentives for
the return of other kinds of post-consumer
waste like used cars or refrigerators,
which are full of Freon, harmful
to the ozone.
Renata Podgajski:
Implementation of waste
management system on the
island of Brač
The island of Brač, with its preserved
natural beauty and gentle climate, is
one of the most valued travel destinations
in Dalmatia. Unfortunately,
Snimio: Mario Đurasović
uncontrolled waste disposal resulted
in illegal landfills that devastated the
island. Those are mostly minor disposal
sites for municipal and construction
waste located near the roads, on
the seashore or in inaccessible places.
Apart from being a health hazard,
they are also a major blight on the
landscape. Their effect on both human
health and landscape must be
reduced. During the summer, additional
quantities of waste packaging
produced by tourists add to the total
waste volume. That is the reason why
source reduction, recycling and reuse
must be the core of the island’s waste
management strategy.
Sanja Kalambura and Aleksandra
Anić-Vučinić: Recycling options
for PET packaging (3)
In cases when recycled PET cannot
be used as a raw material because of
its high contamination, it is used as
a source of energy. PET is a very cost
efficient energy source for those companies
that can use it. In other cases,
the alternative is incineration. PET is
not hazardous because it contains
only carbon, hydrogen and oxygen,
meaning that in the process of incineration
it yields only carbon dioxide
and water. PET reduces pressure on
declining landfill space because of
its small volume; it is stabile and does
not threaten groundwater.
PET flakes are used as a raw material
for a range of products. Examples include
sleeping bags, packaging materials
and clothes (25 PET bottles are
needed to produce one jacket). PET
flakes can also be used to produce
fences, benches and road signs.
Maja Brkić–Pancirov: Symposium
on island waste management
strategy in Zadar
In late January, a symposium on island
waste management strategy gathered
160 Croatian and foreign experts.
Preservation of environment and
adherence to environmental standards
are a large part of sustainable
tourism development. Croatian Law
on Waste prohibits waste disposal
on islands. The existing landfills will
me remediated and closed down. All
waste is to be transported to the central
mainland sanitary landfill. Nikola
Ružinski, State Secretary for Environment,
explained that the new waste
management strategy was based on
source reduction and reuse. He stressed
the necessity of remediation of
illegal landfills and those not in line
with high environmental standards.
(Ž. B.): Končar to build the largest
Croatian wind farm
It is ironic that Croatia, as a very windy
country, occupies the bottom rung of
the European ladder when it comes
to wind power. Croatia has only one
commercial wind farm. That wind
farm is located on the island of Pag,
but even that farm might soon become
history because the Coastline
Protection Law bans the construction
in the 1000-meter wide zone from
the waterline. Construction of wind
farms is planned on several locations
in Primorje and Dalmatia regions.
The Končar Company, constructor of
hydro-electric power plants and power-transformers,
plans to build the
largest Croatian wind farm in the hinterland
of Split. By the end of September
2006, the first wind turbine with
rated power of 1 MW will be finished.
By the end of September 2007, the
system with fifteen turbine columns
and the total power of 15MW will be
completed, which means it will generate
twice as much power as the Pag
wind farm, constructed by the Adria
Wind Power Company two years ago.
Končar’s wind power plant will generate
30 gigawatt-hours of electricity
per year. An average Croatian household
uses about 4 megawatt-hours a
SUMMARY
year, which means that the Split wind
farm would generate as much power
as 7500 households use.
(Ž. B.): Modernization of the
outdated Rijeka refinery
After the enormous chimney of the
notorious Coke Plant in the Bakar
Bay has been torn down last year,
inhabitants of the Rijeka region hoped
they would never again have to
bear coke in their vicinity. Who knows
how many years will pass before
all ill effects of the Bakar Coke Plant
are erased? But only several months
later, coke has “knocked on their doors”
again. This time, the danger comes
from the outdated INA refinery
in Rijeka. INA and MOL experts plan
to modernize the refinery and bring it
in line with increasingly strict EU standards.
Oil experts agree that that the
modernized plant should concentrate
on the so called “white products”, gasoline
and diesel because they are in
high demand in both domestic and
foreign markets and attract the best
prices. But it seems that the crucial
question is what is to be done with
the solid residue remaining from the
refinement of petroleum.
Jelena Boko: Environmental
Attitude Survey in Croatia
In January 2006, a survey about the
new Ordinance on Packaging and Waste
Packaging was conducted among
the Croatian citizens. The aim of the
survey was to asses whether the citizens
were informed of the Ordinance
and whether they would return the
packaging or not, and if yes, for what
reasons.
The overall findings indicated that
nearly half of Croatian citizens (47%)
were well informed of the new Ordinance,
51% heard if it, while 2% claimed
not to know anything about it.
Among those respondents who claim
to be well informed of the Ordinance,
60% are men and 59% received
college education, while 59% have
above average income. The survey
also showed that citizens of the
north-west Croatia were best acquainted
with the Ordinance, followed by
Dalmatians.
Vesna Cetin: Natura 2000
Under the auspices of the Croatian
Biological Society, a symposium NA-
TURA 2000 was held in the premises
of the Department of Biology at the
Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
on February 28, 2006. The
EU Directive on the Conservation of
Natural Habitats and of Wild Flora and
Fauna is one of the most important
and most demanding EU regulations
in the field of environmental protection.
NATURA 2000 is a coherent
European ecological network and
every EU country contributes to the
preservation of European natural heritage
by designating its own Special
Areas of Conservation.
“As NATURA 2000 is one of the most
important EU environmental protection
programs, Croatia has the obligation
to set up a National ecological
network as part of its process of accession
to the European Union and
implementation of the SAA”, stressed
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