Construction Waste Management in Croatia

Abstract

This article discusses construction waste and its management in the territory of Croatia. In order to better understand the concept of waste, the first part of this paper discusses its origin, characteristics, and categorisation. In addition, it mentions special categories of waste defined within Croatian borders. All members of the European Union are encouraged to adopt a circular economy approach to manage these various types of waste. Furthermore, the article emphasises the necessity to construct legal landfills in addition to building management centres, recycling yards, and transfer stations, in order to reduce the formation of wild landfills, which result from irresponsible waste disposal. The second part of the article provides a detailed description of construction and demolition waste. In addition to the types of occurrences and the associated degree of hazard, a categorisation system is used. This system includes records and key numbers, and allows finding the appropriate species in the database with the corresponding key number. Modern technology has made it possible to recycle all types of waste, including construction waste, into secondary raw materials. Proper management is essential to achieve this goal. The first step involves prevention, diversion or conversion of waste into a resource. When these options are not possible, one of the recovery processes should be employed. Managing Construction Waste also provides a comprehensive explanation of recycling, which is given significant attention. The article concludes with an overview of the Republic of Croatia’s system for managing construction waste, which lags behind more developed countries, as well as offers examples of best practices and possible improvements.