A new modern waste management system is being implemented in the county of Istria, the most westerly point of the Republic of Croatia, in order to reduce the amount of biodegradable waste and landfilled municipal waste.
Waste management centre to reduce landfilled waste in Croatia
- 22 May 2015
The Kaštijun project is being implemented with the overall objective to provide an environmentally-friendly, cost effective and affordable regional waste management system covering the County of Istria. Accordingly, the main focus of this project is the establishment of a new compliant landfill combined with a waste pre-treatment process, in order to by improve the waste collection service level, to establish separate waste collection systems and to enable closure of non-compliant landfills in the County.
Located 5 km south from the city of Pula, the County Waste Management Centre Kaštijun is aiming to provide waste management services for all citizens, thereby improving living and environmental standards for all county inhabitants. The Centre, which is scheduled to start trials in early 2015, will also be able to provide services for tourists visiting the County, especially during the summer season when the number of visitors is very high.
Benefits for the inhabitants and environment
From an environmental point of view, the project assists in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, thanks to a decrease in, or proper collection of, methane and carbon dioxide emissions. There are further emissions savings due to the project proving an alternative source of heat and/or electricity generation without the use of fossil fuels.
The project also envisages resource cost savings, through the recovery of recyclable products and the production of compost or energy, as well as through the reduction of the total amount of waste going to final disposal, which extends the economic life of the landfills.
Furthermore, the investment aims to bring benefits to the inhabitants also by reducing disamenities and health risks, due to the closure of uncontrolled dumpsites and the avoidance of uncontrolled waste leachate.
Public opinion perception
The waste management services are expected to cover a total of 41 local government areas (10 towns and 31 municipalities). Six waste transfer stations will be constructed in Umag, Poreč, Rovinj, Buzet, Pazin and Labin.
A particular challenge of the project, when presenting it to the public, was initially a rather negative perception by many NGOs and civil society organisations toward such investment. However, thanks to the Public Relations contract, implemented in the period June 2011-June 2013 and co-financed by the EU, a great number of activities have been carried out for the purpose of informing the public and raising awareness regarding the importance of citizens’ active participation in the process of establishing a new waste management system in the county.
Total investment and EU funding
Total investment for the project “County Waste Management Centre Kaštijun” is EUR 35 070 000, of which the EU’s Cohesion Fund is contributing EUR 25 050 000 from the Operational Programme “Environment” for Croatia for the 2007 to 2013 programming period.