Tomašević said the proposal had been put to month-long public consultation during which all good suggestions would be taken into account, one of them being that waste bags should have a smaller volume – of 10 instead of 20 litres, which is the current proposal.
“Many citizens have contacted us, saying that it would take a lot of time to fill a 20 litre bag and they suggest that the bag should have a 10 litre volume. That is a realistic and good proposal,” he said.
The purpose of the proposed waste collection model is to pay the variable part of the waste collection rate through the price of bags for unsorted waste.
Tomašević said that there would be no changes to the collection of sorted plastic, metal and paper waste.
Presenting the new model of charging for waste collection last Friday, the mayor said that waste collection would be charged based on the quantity of unsorted waste generated. The main change is that in addition to a fixed monthly rate of HRK 45 (households) or HRK 90 (businesses), citizens would pay HRK 4 or 8 for ‘official bags’ to dispose of unsorted waste.
The amount of the second part of the waste collection rate would be up to users themselves. They would have to buy ‘official’ waste bags, their prices being HRK 4 for a 20 litre bag, and HRK 8 for a 40 litre bag, Tomašević said last Friday.
The city authorities also plan to move garbage containers from public areas to have them controlled exclusively by their users.
Apartment and house owners would thus be responsible for the content of those containers, including waste disposed of inappropriately.
The new system of waste collection should go into force on 1 July.
Presenting the new model last Friday, Tomašević said it was the cheapest and fairest as it encouraged waste sorting.
He said the average monthly bill for a household generating 120 litres of unsorted waste would be HRK 69. A household that generates 60 litres of unsorted waste a month would pay HRK 57 while a household generating 240 litres a month would pay HRK 93.
Only bags for unsorted waste will be charged while those for plastic and bio waste would continue to be free of charge.
Fines for waste that has not been disposed of appropriately will amount to around HRK 500.
