Minister Zmajlović: Croatia won't have to pay bio-waste penalties

"Croatia will not pay biodegradable waste penalties, which was announced by some prophets of doom," Zmajlovic told a news conference in the government on Thursday, explaining that the authorities had intensified steps in the second half of 2013 to reduce the amount of bio-waste entering landfills, as a result of which the quantity of this waste was reduced by 29% last year, reaching the 75-percent level from 1997, the reference year.

In this context, he boasted of campaigns such as "Big Cleanup" and of the fact that about 200 cities and municipalities had introduced primary waste selection.

The minister said that according to preliminary data from the Environment Protection Agency, the amount of the biowaste entering landfills was cut by 29%, which was near the plan to have the amount scaled down to 75% of biowaste at landfill sites in 1997.

Croatia has pledged to the European Union that it would have reduced bio-waste amount in total waste by 25% compared to the statistics in 1997