20.04.2023.
The representatives of the Fund participated in the meeting of the Grouping for street cleaning and municipal waste management at the Croatian Chamber of Economy held in Šibenik.Mirko Budiša, the deputy director of the Fund, mentioned the main activities pertaining to the municipal sector. He pointed out that it was very important for municipal companies to put forward their questions and suggestions to the Fund, which were welcomed as well as any good initiatives. “Last week, the Fund launched four public calls worth almost 15 million euros, two of which are aimed at improving the waste management system. Local self-government units and municipal companies can apply for co-financing of the separate waste collection measures. Also, another very important thing that is often overlooked is education about waste management. The Fund is well aware of this, so one call is dedicated solely to education measures. The interest in our programmes is high, and I’ll take this opportunity to invite all members of the Grouping to put forward their initiatives that will contribute to further improvement of the waste management system,” said deputy director Budiša in his opening speech.
The president of the Association for Municipal Waste Management and the Grouping for street cleaning and municipal waste management Novica Ljubičić said that he the successful cooperation with the competent institutions would continue. He specifically underlined the activities of the Grouping in relation to the new Ordinance on packaging that should soon be adopted, and the new Waste Management Plan for which public consultations had been completed.
The head of the Environmental Protection Sector, Aleksandra Čilić, held a presentation outlining the Fund’s public calls and calls for proposals planned in 2023, while the head of the Sector for Special Waste Management, Zvonimir Majić, talked about the current developments in upgrading the waste collection and recovery system.
Aljoša Duplić, the director of the Institute for Environment and Nature at the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development, briefly presented the e-ONTO app, a statistical waste management overview, and touched upon the targets Croatia should achieve in this field. Lecturer at the Faculty of Geotechnical Engineering Aleksandra Anić Vučinić, talked about the challenges that providers of public services were facing in their daily operations, and she presented the preliminary results of the study on this subject that included 44 municipal companies.
“Waste management affects the life of each and every citizens and it is an important topic at EU level, and we is aware of the responsibility that municipal companies have to bear. Resolving the issue of waste requires synergistic action of all stakeholders, so in the future the Chamber will try to be the contact point for companies and relevant institutions in an attempt to find efficient solutions for utility management and the economy as a whole,” said in conclusion Tatjana Kesić Šapić from the Sector for Industry and Sustainable Development at CCE.
Photo: Mirsad Mešinović
