Zelena akcija - Friends of the Earth Croatia (Zero Waste Croatia Network coordinator) with few partner NGO's yesterday held big protest in Zagreb calling for better separate waste collection system and opposing Mayor's plan to multiple increase monthly bills of citizens. Zagreb is on the last place out of 28 EU capitals in the separation and recycling of waste. For that reason, few hundreds of people came yesterday in front of the Mayor's office saying this is the culmination of 20 years of carelessness and incapacity of Mayor Bandic, and demanding thorough system changes.

Motivated by the European Single Use Plastic Directive, a group of local activists from the island of Zlarin in Croatia got an idea of Zlarin becoming an island without single-use plastic. They won the contest for the best innovative solutions that will help to stop further pollution caused by plastic waste into the Adriatic Sea. Few months after that, the vision started becoming reality when all shops, restaurants, NGOs and local authorities signed the declaration to replace all disposable plastic with more environmentally friendly solutions to contribute to stopping plastic pollution.

Great news from the Zero Waste Croatia network of municipalities! Today in Prelog, north of Croatia, three new municipalities signed the official Zero Waste strategy and entered the Zero Waste Europe network of municipalities with best practices in Europe. They joined other 9 municipalities in the successful system run by the municipal company PRE-KOM, which is the sustainable waste management national leader in Croatia with the best results in reduction, separate collection, recycling and composting.

Gathered in a coalition “Zero Waste Croatia”, environmental NGO’s and citizens’ initiatives from all over the Croatia are warning public about dangerous consequences of irrational act of forcing construction of regional centers for waste management and demanding formal resignation of Croatian minister of Environmental Protection and Energetics, Tomislav Ćorić. European Commission has warned about the damages on Monday, and Ministry has once again shown the incredible skills of unconvincing manipulation and indifference towards public interest.

We are inviting citizens to engage in an online action and send us pictures of more sustainable alternatives to single-use plastic, as well as examples of unnecessary plastic packaging and plastic pollution of the environment.