Public Call "Plastic free zone" presented at Beyond Plastic conference in Split

16.09.2022.

A 2-day interdisciplinary conference on waste management was organised in Split by the Association Sunce under the slogan: “Reduce, reuse and recycle - Beyond Plastic Hrvatska”. The representatives of the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund took part in the conference.   

The conference was opened by the executive director of Sunce association Gabrijela Medunić-Orlić, and the mayor of Split-Dalmatia County, Blaženko Boban, who also addressed the participants in his welcome speech. The project manager and organiser of the conference, Tea Kuzmičić Rosandić, pointed out that the conference gathered in one place the participants hailing from different sectors and organisations – the Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries Split, the Faculty of Science in Zagreb, and foreign speakers from Tunisia, Malta, France, and Belgium, and from Seas At Risk, an umbrella organisation of associations and organisations dealing with the protection of the sea.

The participants had the opportunity to get informed about waste management, use of disposable plastic and the levels of plastic pollution in the Mediterranean. The results of the For Plastic-Free Croatian Islands project implemented in Municipality Sali on Dugi otok and in Stari Grad on Hvar were presented.

The conference was divided int four thematic units: Marine waste, Public policies and waste management, Circular economy and waste treatment technologies, Business sector and waste management, and Society, individuals, and waste.

As part of the discussion about public policies, two employees of the Fund – Jadranka Rajić Bradvica and Tomislav Vidović presented the Fund’s Public Call for direct co-financing project promoting za “Plastic free zone” (JP ZO 2/2022). They also participated in the panel underlining the role of the Fund in co-financing different waste management projects. “The ‘Plastic free’ public call is aimed at reducing waste quantities, especially plastic waste, so different alternatives to plastic products are co-financed under the call. We believe that protected areas are the perfect testing ground for such projects because something we want to preserve is the best motivator for changing our behaviour,” said Vidović, adding that the call was still open, and that the Fund had allocated 4 million kunas for these projects. “This, however, is just one of the projects aimed at improving waste management in Croatia. There are also large infrastructural projects, as well as education projects and the activities aimed at raising the awareness of the citizens, which we believe to be an equally important cog in the system that is waste management. That is why we’re glad that conferences like this one allow us to exchange experiences, insights, and information, so that we can all together contribute even more,” concluded Vidović.
 
More information about the event is available on the website of Sunce Association , and you can view the video of the conference on the association’s Facebook page.

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