Croatia faces waste disposal crisis amid lack of incineration plants

Croatia is currently the only European Union member state without a waste incineration plant, despite the presence of over 500 such facilities across Europe. As landfill capacities reach their limits and EU regulations demand reduced landfilling, the country faces significant challenges in waste disposal.

Minister of Economy Ante Šušnjar noted that while Croatian companies build waste-to-energy plants abroad in countries like Germany and Belgium, the domestic sector lacks similar infrastructure. Minister of Environmental Protection Marija Vučković stated that waste management goals cannot be achieved without energy plants, provided they meet strict environmental and monitoring standards.

In contrast, Sweden has achieved such high recycling efficiency that it sends less than 1% of municipal waste to landfills. This has resulted in a shortage of waste to fuel its modern energy plants, forcing the country to import millions of tons of non-hazardous waste from nations like the UK and Italy to maintain its heating and electricity production.

In Croatia, the lack of domestic processing infrastructure has led to economic losses. Data indicates that while waste imports to Croatia fell by 37% in the first half of 2026, waste exports rose by over 32%, highlighting missed opportunities for domestic energy recovery and processing.