About a hundred citizens and NGOs held a protest rally outside the Zagreb City Hall on Thursday to voice their opposition to the proposed waste management plan which is on the City Council's agenda.

Marko Kosak of the Croatian environmental protection NGO, Green Action, told reporters that they objected the proposed plan because it would not be sufficient to advance the waste management system.

“More than a billion kuna (some €135 million) is being invested to process waste, when it should be invested in recycling waste,” Kosak said. He said that the plan was obviously the Mayor Milan Bandic’s doing and that it would be detrimental to the public interest, as well as the environmental protection in Zagreb.

“The city of Zagreb is one of the worst capitals in the European Union with regard to waste management, and this plan won’t change that. The people are paying unfair and unlawful monthly bills, waste is being left out in the streets all over the city. Instead of investing in this, instead of changing things, the mayor is once again investing in waste processing and transportation, and in murky dealings with waste,” Kosak said and called on the city councillors to reject the proposed plan.

The protesters were joined by several members of parliament, including Gordan Maras from the largest opposition party, the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SDP), Nikola Grmoja and Marko Sladoljev from the Bridge of Independent Lists (Most) party, and Branimir Bunjac from the anti-establishment Human Shield (Živi zid) party.

(€1 = 7.42 kuna)

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