Following the incident of illegally dumped waste in Gospić, waste of apparently identical composition has been discovered at a site in Lički Osik. Gospić Mayor Darko Milinović has requested an urgent response from relevant state institutions regarding previous actions and further steps, the Tris portal reports.
According to a statement from the City of Gospić, a municipal inspector was immediately dispatched to oversee the site of the former production plant and reported the established facts to the State Inspectorate. The owner was not found on the premises, but stated via telephone and email that he had sold the land on 2 July 2026 and, under the sales contract, is obliged to clean it up. Based on the municipal inspector's report, the site has been ordered to be remediated within 30 days.
The State Inspectorate acted at the controversial site more than a year ago, which is why the City has requested an official response regarding the inspections carried out, the facts established, and the measures taken, the statement notes.
In Gospić, waste, including medical waste, has been sitting in silos at the former PPK Velebit facility and around them, as well as at the Rakitovac landfill, for a year and a half. According to Tris, it has not been removed from these sites, and the civic initiative Gospić is Our Home warns of the danger of contamination spreading to karst soil and underground water sources.
The initiative organised a protest march, Walk for Lika, and addressed relevant institutions and Prime Minister Plenković with a request that they answer their questions by 15 July. They claim they have not received a response.
Minister of Environmental Protection and Green Transition Marija Vučković spoke about the case on HRT's Dnevnik news programme, stating that "it is not the way for state administration to answer questions with a 15-day deadline" and that analyses had been conducted throughout. The initiative counters by asking why old analyses were published alongside the new tender, and claims that lead, antimony, and cadmium levels exceed permitted limits even in those documents.
USKOK, according to Tris, established in February 2025 that buried plastic waste containing hazardous substances releases toxic particles harmful to human and animal health during decomposition, and that the pollution has caused significant ecological damage to the Republic of Croatia.
