Croatian government has 650 tons of waste burned in cement plants. Groundwater near the landfill measured twice the drinking-water limit

On Thursday, the Croatian government decided that 650 tons of waste from the grounds of the former PPK Velebit company in Gospić will be taken over by two domestic cement plants, Holcim Hrvatska and Nexe, and burned within 45 days at the latest. A private company was originally supposed to remove it, but it withdrew its bid two days earlier and the tender collapsed. Meanwhile, experts working for the anti-corruption office USKOK confirmed that the groundwater near the illegal landfill contains perfluorinated substances, with one sample showing twice the limit set by the European directive for drinking water. Index.hr ↗The case, however, is not limited to Gospić, and it does not end with the removal of those 650 tons.

The tender collapsed due to resistance from the town where the waste was to be taken

On September 2, the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund selected the company Tabak grupa from Zaprešić to remove and dispose of roughly 650 tons of waste stored in three hundred large-volume bags. The estimated value of the contract was 400,000 euros excluding tax, and the winner bid 357,500 euros. A second bid was submitted by the duo CE-ZA-R and Saubermacher-TS at 578,500 euros excluding tax, which the fund rejected as unacceptable because it exceeded the allocated funds. CE-ZA-R is the largest component of the C.I.O.S. group, controlled by businessman Petar Pripuz. Index.hr ↗

The plan ran into resistance in Zaprešić, where the waste was to be taken. Residents of the town announced a protest, and the company's director, Ivan Tabak, then declared that he no longer planned to process it in Zaprešić and would instead seek permission to remediate the waste directly on site in Gospić. "We will request permission for on-site remediation. If they refuse, we will withdraw from the contract," he said at the time. On Tuesday, the company withdrew its bid within the statutory deadline, the fund had no other acceptable bid, and it canceled the entire procedure. Index.hr ↗

The government therefore resorted to an intervention measure and approached the two cement plants that are the only ones in the country holding valid permits for this kind of energy recycling. According to Plenković, it will pay at most 357,500 euros for this, exactly the amount offered by the bidder that withdrew from the contract. The day before, Minister Branko Bačić said the remediation would be paid for from the budget and that the state would try to recover the costs from those responsible. 24sata ↗

In a statement, Holcim said it would take over approximately 300 tons, with the rest to be burned by Nexe. "The material that will be transported does not differ in its properties from the waste-derived fuels that Holcim uses in its everyday cement production, poses no danger to either employees or the local community, and emissions will remain below the limit values," the company wrote. The waste designated for burning is classified as non-hazardous and represents only part of what lies in Gospić. 24sata ↗

What was measured and what it means for the water

The expert reports are being prepared for the criminal proceedings that USKOK is conducting around the illegal landfill at 50 Bilajska Street in Gospić. Experts from the Faculty of Geotechnical Engineering found perfluorinated and polyfluorinated substances, known as PFAS, in groundwater from monitoring wells in the immediate vicinity of the landfill. The Croatian Institute of Public Health and the Andrija Štampar Institute subsequently found them in samples of the waste itself as well, and the composition matched in both cases. 24sata ↗

In the waste leachate, laboratories analyzed twenty PFAS compounds and detected six of them. In the groundwater they confirmed four, all short-chain, which move through the environment more easily and quickly. The sample from the well immediately next to the waste had twenty-eight times more PFAS than the other samples, with the sum reaching 200.5 nanograms per liter. The EU Drinking Water Directive, which member states have had to apply since January of this year, sets a value of 100 nanograms per liter for the sum of twenty PFAS. 24sata ↗

This comparison, however, should be read with caution, since this is not water intended for drinking. The Institute of Public Health also stated that PFAS were not confirmed in water from public water supply systems in any of the 73 samples taken so far, and it assesses the risk that the landfill will affect sources for public supply as low to negligible. Moreover, according to the institute, the concentrations measured in the groundwater around the landfill are on the lower end compared to what is typically recorded at landfills. 24sata ↗

Court expert Ivica Kišić assesses the situation similarly, telling RTL television that he considers the current impact on residents' health to be negligible. He argued that no agricultural crops are grown in the area and that these are shallow seepage waters at a depth of about ten meters, not aquifers. He added that about 95 percent of locals are connected to the municipal water supply and use their wells mainly as utility water, which is microbiologically substandard regardless of the landfill. He was skeptical about the timeline and said the remediation would hardly be finished within three months. 24sata ↗

At the government session, Prime Minister Plenković stated that, according to all findings so far, the drinking water from the public supply in Gospić and in the county is not at risk. At the same time, he expressed dissatisfaction with how the findings are being made public and called on the state prosecutor's office and the experts to explain the documents they sign themselves. Index.hr ↗

The second site lies in the Zadar hinterland

The investigation is not limited to Gospić. On Wednesday, USKOK released three new documents, one on Lika and two on Benkovac, where waste is buried on the property of well-known goldsmith Pašo Dodić. The previous four reports concerned Gospić and Varaždin and revealed microplastics, hazardous compounds, and heavy metals. 24sata ↗

According to a report from the site, it is an abandoned quarry a few kilometers from the center of Benkovac, where an estimated 16,000 tons of waste ended up, including a large amount of microplastics with particles ranging from a tenth of a millimeter to two millimeters. Samples showed elevated concentrations of copper, zinc, lead, and antimony, with antimony exceeding the limit values set for non-hazardous waste landfills. Local residents say no one saw the dumping for years, and some of them have started buying bottled water. 24sata ↗

How the waste got to these sites was described to investigators by Ivica Vajdić, one of the closest associates of businessman Josip Šincek. He testified shortly after his arrest. According to his testimony, he had worked since 2021 in Šincek's companies Tipos Resurs and Plastruktor as a mechanic and driver, first in Varaždin, where machines ground plastic bags, straws, and bottles into granulate sold to Slovenia. In Gospić, he says, he unloaded waste brought in by trucks, part of which was used to level the terrain, with the dumping continuing until October 2024. The investigation covers four sites: besides Varaždin and Gospić, also Senj and Benkovac. Index.hr ↗

For Slovak visitors to Croatia, the geography of both towns is relevant. Gospić lies in Lika along the A1 motorway from Zagreb to Split and has its own exit from it, while Benkovac is inland near Zadar. These are therefore areas along the main route to the coast, not the coastline itself, and the findings so far concern the groundwater near the landfills, not the public water supply.

Ecocide enters the Criminal Code on the same day

On the same Thursday, the government sent parliament a package of amendments to the Criminal Code that introduces a life sentence for the first time, adds a new criminal offense of ecocide, and tightens animal protection. The life sentence is to become possible from January 1, 2027, for the fifteen most serious crimes for which the law currently prescribes long-term imprisonment, and parole may be requested at the earliest after 25 years. 24sata ↗

Justice Minister Damir Habijan said the amendment is partly aligning with EU law and partly based on domestic cases. Plenković justified the introduction of the life sentence with reference to serious murders, specifically the case in Drniš, not the waste case. Under the proposal, the statute of limitations is to be dropped for ecocide, and according to Index.hr this is also meant to apply to arson. Index.hr ↗

The opposition reads the coincidence of both decisions with the government's social package, which is meant to keep electricity and gas prices at their current level, as an attempt to divert attention. Most party leader Nikola Grmoja said in the N1 studio that the government is giving people money so they will forget that it allowed them to be poisoned. Plenković, for his part, declared that the government is dealing with a concrete solution to the problem, not with protests and politicizing, and that those responsible must answer criminally. N1 Croatia ↗

Meanwhile, the case is reaching the European level. MEP Gordan Bosanac of the Možemo! party, through the Greens/European Free Alliance group, requested a European Parliament plenary debate at the session from September 14 to 17, under the title Protecting human health from forever chemicals PFAS and other toxic substances, the recent case of contaminated groundwater in Croatia. The Conference of Presidents was to decide on whether to include it. HRT ↗

Slovak media have so far covered the case mainly through the protest held on September 5 in Zagreb, which drew tens of thousands of people demanding the removal of the landfill. TASR ↗

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Illustrative photo: a panorama of Gospić with the river flowing through the town. Photo by INekic, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.