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The Focus is Not on Penalties for Waste Sorting

The Minister of Environment and Nature Protection, Mihael Zmajlović, stated today that the primary waste sorting system will quickly and successfully come to life and that citizens have actually been waiting for it for a long time.

-Citizens are simply waiting for such a system to be enabled- said Zmajlović after visiting Pliva’s facilities in Savski Marof.

He says that for years it has been said that work needs to be done on primary waste selection, but that nothing has been done.

In his opinion, the new law will certainly enable this to start very quickly.

-The incentive for local government units is strong, and citizens will quickly get involved, and we should not be skeptical about that. The practice in cities and municipalities where such a system has been introduced has shown that waste sorting works- says Zmajlović.

When asked how it will be determined who does not sort waste and how penalties will be established, he said that the focus is not on penalties and that part of the responsibility is being transferred to co-owners and managers of residential buildings who must ensure that all residents participate in the system and engage in separate waste collection, in the manner organized by local utility companies.

The government has sent a proposal for a law on sustainable waste management to the Parliament from this week’s session, which Zmajlović assesses will fundamentally change communal behavior and the citizens’ relationship towards waste.

With the proposed law, the government is transferring many competencies and obligations related to waste management to local government units.

They will, for example, have to ensure separate collection of various types of waste, meaning that primary selection will be their obligation. This practically means that local government units, if the Parliament accepts the government’s proposal, will have to provide containers for separate collection of various types of waste in front of citizens’ homes.

The government also proposes a new method for managing bulky waste, according to which local government units must enable citizens to deliver it for free to recycling yards or provide a call-out transport service.