19.02.2026.
A coordination meeting was held today on the premises of Lika-Senj County on the topic of remediation of illegally dumped waste in the area of the city of Gospić.The meeting was attended by representatives of the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund, led by deputy director Mirko Budiša. Lika-Senj County was represented by prefect Ernest Petry and deputy prefect Jasna Orešković Brkljačić participated, while the City of Gospić was represented by deputy mayor Ivica Kovačević, and director of utility company Komunalac Gospić with associates. The meeting was also attended by representatives of the Civic Initiative "Gospić is our Home".
During the meeting, ongoing activities were presented and the possibilities of further cooperation of all competent institutions were considered that are aimed at efficient and timely remediation of locations where illegal waste dumping has been recorded. Special emphasis was placed on coordinating operational steps, providing necessary financial and technical preconditions, and strengthening preventive measures.
The participants in the meeting emphasised the importance of joint action and continuous communication between the local and regional level and state institutions, while taking into account citizens' initiatives and suggestions.
Deputy director of the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund, Mirko Budiša, reminded that the Fund got consent to start remediation last year, but part of the site is still under investigation procedure. “These actions are ongoing and are not public, so at the moment we do not have analyses on all parts of the site," he said. The remediation process will be divided into three phases, with the first one including about 3,500 tons of ground hazardous plastic waste located next to the silo. The works should last up to six months, and the completion of the first phase is expected this year. Last week, the Fund opened a preliminary consultation with interested economic operators, uploading and publishing all documentation and official analyses related to the 1st remediation phase. Upon the conclusion of the consultation, the Fund will announce a tender for the selection of contractors.
When asked about the hazards to health and the environment, he explained that the Fund was not competent to interpret official measurements, but he asked for information from the competent institutions. According to the data of the Josip Juraj Strossmayer Water Institute, the parameters on the Lika River are normal, without increased concentrations, while the Institute of Public Health of Split-Dalmatia County has not established elevated levels of particulate matter or heavy metals in the air.
Analyses commissioned by the Fund have shown that waste cannot be disposed of at non-hazardous waste landfills due to its hazardous properties, but it has a good calorific value and is most suitable for thermal treatment. "The final destination will depend on the selected tenderer, i.e. whether it will be incinerated in power plants or transported to a hazardous waste landfill outside Croatia,” said Budiša. He added that for other quantities of waste on the site, it was not yet possible to estimate the exact costs of remediation because the work analysis by other state bodies is still underway.
"The Fund is cooperating with all competent state institutions, and local authorities, we respect associations and the public's right to know the state of the environment, and we communicate all the information we have and can give, transparently with no reservation," Budiša pointed out. He stated that nothing was being kept under the hat, and it was communicated from the outset that the waste found in Gospić also showed dangerous properties. "That is why the Government of the Republic of Croatia and the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Green Transition got involved, adopting the Amendments to the Waste Management Plan, which opened the possibility for the Fund to be the remediation implementing authority, with the aim of protection of the public interest," says Budiša.
County prefect Ernest Petry thanked the Fund for their involvement from day one, pointing out: “The priority is the protection of human health and the environment, and to hold perpetrators criminally responsible," he said. He also thanked the citizens' initiative, which, according to him, prompted the speeding up of certain activities. He announced a joint initiative to be directed to USKOK, the State Attorney's Office and the DIRH in order to speed up the investigation procedures, so as to enable as soon as possible the remediation of parts of the contaminated area that are not included in the first phase of remediation. "We cannot influence the work of the law enforcement authorities, but we can petition for the procedures to be accelerated," Petry said, adding that the County would continue to insist on the comprehensive remediation of the area.
The representative of the initiative "Gospić is our Home" Daria Došen said that although they could appreciate administrative procedures, they were not satisfied with the dynamics of the process and that she would request from the competent authorities analyses related to soil testing.
Deputy Budiša reiterated that those were complicated intricate projects, given that these locations had been or were partly still the subject of investigation, and the Fund had to adapt its actions to that. "No matter how it may have seemed in public, we did not waste a day; we laboured the whole time to provide procedural, professional and legal foundations, in order to start with the remediation itself," Budiša concluded.
