Director of the Fund, Luka Balen, and his deputy, Mirko Budiša, participated in the conference “Waste Management: A New Beginning”, where waste management technologies that could be applied in Croatia were discussed. The aim of the conference was to gather waste management experts from Croatia and all over the world so that they could exchange their experiences, develop the best practices, and establish communication channels.
In a talk with the editor-in-chief of the magazine Poslovni dnevnik Vladimir Nišević, the director of the Fund Luka Balen referred primarily to the 2023 Municipal Waste Report, which was recently published by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Green Transition. The report shows that in recent years Croatia made significant progress in the field of waste management.
“We should bear in mind that almost half a billion euros were provided during this period, from both national and European funds. These resources were used, among other things, for landfill remediation, construction of civic amenity sites, bring banks, sorting and composting plants, and the purchase of containers for separate waste collection. As regards waste management centres, four have been built, four more are in the construction phase, and for three the documentation is being prepared. Education is key in this entire process, so it is vital to organise conferences like this one to hear what experts have to say on this matter,” said Balen, adding that in the last eight years in Croatia, the rate of separate waste collection increased by 24 percentage points and recycling by 21 percentage points, accounting for probably one of the highest increases in Europe.
During the discussion, it was established that at local level it was easy to spot and highlight the examples of good practice among municipalities and towns. Osijek, pointed out Balen, had fulfilled the waste management goals, and Croatia’s other larger towns should follow this path, while other mid-sized towns include Križevci, Koprivnica, Čakovec, Virovitica, Prelog, and others. Nišević noted that one of the challenges was the tourist season and a large number of visitors. “According to estimates, waste from tourism at national level accounts for around 10%, and this number is not insignificant. There is also the example of Krk and local self-government units on Rab and Lošinj, which organised waste management in their areas quite well, despite the tourist season peaks,” said Balen.
Balen pointed out that waste should become a resource, and it should be recycled more, while its residual part should be used for energy recovery. He mentioned WMC Bikarac, which started with the preparation of project documentation for a power plant that would be an integral part of the built waste management centre. The residual waste after mechanical-biological treatment and waste sludge will be converted into heat and electricity serving the needs of the business zone.
Another topic discussed at the panel was the necessity of energy recovery, with participation of Robert Podrug, president of the Management Board of Bikarac Waste Management Centre, Dino Perović, advisor to the CEO of the waste management company Eko, Aleksander Mirt, director of the public company Energetika Celje, and deputy director of the Fund, Mirko Budiša. One of the waste management goals is that by 2035 only 10% of the mass of total municipal waste generated can be landfilled. The participants in the panel agreed that this would not be achieved without energy recovery.
“EU countries achieving the best results in terms of recycling and recovery have the most waste-to-energy plants, whose operation causes no environmental issues. In Europe, there are more than 500 such facilities today recovering more than 100 million tonnes of waste, speaking strongly in favour of their operation. At the same time, without adopting this approach, it is not possible to achieve the goal of the quantities of waste being landfilled, arising from the revised Waste Directive. Material recovery and energy recovery of waste are not contradictory; they act in synergy for the best utilisation of waste properties, which is at the heart of circular economy,” said Budiša.
He also touched upon the NIMBY effect saying that in order to overcome fears and build public trust, it was essential to provide the public with transparent, scientifically based information regarding the safety and advantages of modern technology of thermal waste treatment.
Experiences from their countries where they have been using energy recovery for many years as a component part of circular waste management were shared by the Austrian Ambassador Josef-Markus Wuketich, Danish Ambassador Ole Henrik Frijs-Madsen, and Slovenian Ambassador Gašper Dovžan. They pointed out that it was important to completely redefine our outlook of waste and regard it a resource with a price tag.
Photo: Josip Mikačić/PIXSELL
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11/13/2024
