engleski

Concept of sustainable waste management in the City of Zagreb : Towards the implementation of circular economy approach

Improvement of the current waste management is one of the main challenges for most municipalities in Croatia, mainly due to legal obligations set in different European Union directives regarding waste management, such as reduction of waste generation and landfilling, or increase of separately collected waste and recycling rates. This article highlights the current waste management in the City of Zagreb by analysing the waste generation, collection, and disposal scenario along with the regulatory and institutional framework. Since the present waste management system mainly depends upon landfilling, with the rate of separate waste collection and recycling which is far from being adequate, it is necessary to introduce a new system which will take into account the current situation in the city as well as the obligations imposed by European Union. Namely, in the coming years, the Waste Framework and Landfill Directives of the European Union will be a significant driver of change in waste management practices and governance of the City of Zagreb. At present, the yearly separate waste collection makes somewhat less than 5 kg/cap of various waste fractions, i.e., far below the average value for the capital cities of the EU (28), which is 108 kg/cap. This is possible to achieve only by better and sustainable planning of future activities and facilities with taking care of environmental, economic and social aspect of waste management. This means that the City of Zagreb will not only have to invest in new infrastructure to meet the targets, but will also have to enhance public awareness in diverting this waste at the household level. The solution for the new waste management proposed in this paper will certainly be a way of implementing circular economy approach to current waste management practice in the City of Zagreb. Implications Municipal waste management in the developing countries in the EU (new eastern EU members) is often characterized by its limited utilization of recycling activities, inadequate management of non-industrial hazardous waste and inadequate landfill disposal. Many cities in Eastern Europe and Zagreb as well are facing serious problems in managing municipal wastes due to the existing solid waste management system that is found to be highly inefficient. The proposed scenario for City of Zagreb in the paper is innovative upgrading of municipal waste management based on the waste management hierarchy and circular economy approach.

Waste management ; separate waste collection ; reduction of landfilling ; sustainability

nije evidentirano