Waste is any substance or object which the holder is discarding, intends to or must discard, while waste management is an activity of collection, transport, recovery, sorting and disposal of waste, oversight of these activities and the measures implemented at locations where waste is disposed, as well as actions taken by the waste distributor and waste management agent.
Waste treatment is a process of recovery or disposal, which included preparation before recovery or disposal, while waste disposal is any procedure that is not waste recovery, including the process which as a secondary result has material or energy recovery.
Waste collection means collecting waste, including prior sorting of waste and storage of waste for transport to treatment.
Waste management must be implemented in a way that in no way threatens human health and has no harmful environmental impact, and especially:
a) does not cause risk of pollution of sea, waters, soil and air or threaten biodiversity;
b) causes no discomfort due to noise and unpleasant smells;
c) has no harmful impact on the environment or areas of special interest; and
d) has no explosion or fire hazard.
It is based on compliance with the environmental protection principles set out in the regulation governing environmental protection and in the EU acquis communautaire, international environmental law principles, and scientific insights, best world practice and professional rules, and in particular the following principles:
a) “polluter pays principle” - the producer of waste or the holder of waste shall bear the cost of the waste management measures, and they shall be financially liable for the implementation of remediation measures due to damage that was caused or could be caused by waste;
b) “proximity principle” - the treatment of waste must be carried out in the nearest suitable facility or device relative to the place of origin of waste, taking into account economic efficiency and acceptability for the environment;
c) “self-sufficiency principle” - waste management shall be performed in a self-sufficient manner so as to allow independent achievement of the goals sate at national level, taking into account geographical circumstance or the need for special facilities for special categories of waste;
d) “traceability principle” - means establishing the origin of waste in terms of a product, packaging and producer of the product, and the results of this waste, including treatment.
Bylaws, decisions, plan or programme in the field of waste management must be harmonised with the following waste hierarchy:
a) waste prevention;
b) preparation for reuse;
c) recycling;
d) other recovery procedures, e.g. energy recovery, and
e) disposal.
In the case of application of waste management hierarchy and deciding between two or more options:
a) preference must be given to the option that has the best overall outcome for the environment, which may include a derogation from the waste management order of priority for a given waste stream where justified by the results of the life-cycle analysis of the overall effects of the generation and management of that type of wate, and
b) the general principles of environmental protection, precautions, sustainability, technological feasibility and economic sustainability, the protection of resources, and the overall impacts on the environment, human health, the economy, and society must be taken into account.
The collection, transport and treatment of articles and/or substances which may be considered waste are necessary to protect public interest so that the following waste management procedures:
a) avoid threats to human health or unacceptable nuisance to people;
b) avoid and eliminate the risk of contamination of water, air, soil or avoid endangering animals or plants or disturbing their natural living conditions;
c) avoid the risk of disrupting the sustainable use of water or soil;
d) avoid and eliminate the risk of environmental pollution;
e) avoid and eliminate the risk of fire or explosion;
f) avoid and eliminate the risk of noise;
g) avoid and eliminate the risk of facilitating the occurrence or reproduction of the pathogen of the disease;
h) avoid and eliminate the risk of disturbing public order and security, or
i) avoid disturbing the aspect of settlements, landscapes or cultural good.
Waste management and waste management efficiency are ensured by the Government of the Republic of Croatia and the ministry responsible for environmental protection by prescribing waste management measures, while the implementing body at state level is the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund.
The executive body of the local self-government unit and the executive body of the regional self-government unit, i.e. the City of Zagreb, are obliged to ensure the conditions and implementation of the set out waste management measures in their area.
The Waste Management Centre, which is a set of several functionally and/or technologically interconnected facilities and devices for the treatment of municipal waste, as well as the treatment of hazardous waste by incineration and disposal process, are of particular interest to the Republic of Croatia.
To encourage high-quality recycling, a general obligation of separate collection of waste is prescribed, which specifically means that the holder of waste is obliged to hand over separately from other waste to an authorised person:
a) hazardous waste;
b) waste paper, metal, plastic, glass, bulky waste, textiles and footwear;
c) packaging waste, and
d) waste considered to be a special category of waste.
Public service of municipal waste collection implies the collection of municipal waste in the area covered by the public service by means of containers from an individual user and the transport and handover of that waste to a person authorised to treat such waste.
The public service includes the following services:
1. collection service at the location of the billing point of the service user:
a) mixed municipal waste
b) biowaste
c) recyclable municipal waste, and
d) bulky waste once a year, and
2. waste collection service at the civic amenity site
3. waste transport service and handover to an authorised person.
The executive body of the local self-government unit, i.e. the City of Zagreb, is obliged to ensure in its area the public service of collecting municipal waste in a quality, reliable, and economically efficient manner, avoiding unduly high costs, in accordance with the principles of sustainable development and environmental protection, while ensuring the publicity of work in order to ensure separate collection of mixed municipal waste from households and other sources, biowaste from households, recyclable municipal waste, hazardous municipal waste and bulky waste from households.
The executive body of the local self-government unit, i.e. the City of Zagreb, ensures separate collection of waste paper and cardboard, glass, metal, plastics, biowaste, wood, textiles, packaging, electrical and electronic equipment, batteries and accumulators and bulky waste, including waste mattresses and furniture in such a way as to ensure the functioning of one or more civic amenity sites or bring banks in its area and the service of transporting bulky municipal waste at the request of the service user.
The objectives of waste management are laid down under Title VII of the Waste Management Act (Official Gazette 84/21), and they are prescribed so as to promote the transition to an economy that is mainly circular and in which the value of products, materials and resources is retained as long as possible, and the creation of waste is minimised.
Inspection supervision over the application of the Waste Management Act and regulations adopted thereunder is carried out by environmental inspectors of the State Inspectorate, while supervision of the application of the Waste Management Act and regulations adopted thereunder in the part relating to the public service of municipal waste collection, incineration of waste by natural persons and improper storage, leaving, discarding or disposal of waste by a natural person or unknown persons is carried out by the person who performs the tasks of the service responsible for the municipal order of the local self-government unit.