Remondis Medison, a company specialised in medical waste transport and treatment, has denied allegations that their methods for the treatment of medical waste are hazardous to human health and the environment, and refuted speculations that it is planning to build a centre for medical waste in Jastrebarsko, southwest of Zagreb.

The waste is sterilised during a strictly regulated and controlled process, and upon its sterilisation it is exported to Austria for final and permanent disposal. No incineration has ever been nor will be implemented for (this) waste treatment, Remondis Medison said in a press release on Thursday.

The company, which has been operating in Croatia for 15 years, also ruled out the construction of any centre for medical waste.
After meeting with Remondis Medison executives last week, Jastrebarsko Mayor Zvonimir Novosel has stated that there will be no room for any sort of a medical waste centre in that town.

“The city does not support this project… and we will exhaust every legal and procedural channel to prevent you from obtaining a licence to work in Jastrebarsko,” Novosel had said last week.

The locals had warned that such a project did not belong anywhere near family homes, hotels, yards nad gardens, and expressed their suspicions about the security of the procedure of treating medical waste with a machine over 25 years old.

The company said that it has been doing business in Jastrebarsko since 2015 and that medical waste is only sterilised there before being transported for permanent disposal in Austria.

Remondis Medison has in the meantime requested a licence to convert the current off-site mobile medical waste treatment facility into a stationary one for the treatment of the said waste.

The company said that their methods for waste treatment were in compliance with standards in other European countries.

A study on the impact of Remondis Medison’s business activities in Jastrebarsko is under assessment, said Environment Minister Tomislav Coric on Thursday.

A task force is currently analysing the document, and the county authorities are also expected to forward objections made by locals during a public consultation on the document, he added.

According to available information, the company has been given operating licences as it has done its work in compliance with relevant laws, Coric said, adding that the ministry has already conducted seven inspections and the findings have been in order and in line with EU norms.

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