Thousands of people gathered in central Zagreb at the weekend to demand action over more than 30,000 tonnes of waste illegally stored in central Croatia, reflecting growing public frustration with a government that has repeatedly promised to remove the material but has yet to begin the main cleanup.

The "Walk for Lika, Walk for Croatia" protest on September 5 was one of the biggest demonstrations in Zagreb in several years, bringing environmental activists and residents from the Lika region to Ban Jelačić Square.

The scale of the demonstration, and its timing just days after Prime Minister Andrej Plenković again promised to accelerate the cleanup, point to a problem that has become increasingly difficult for the government to contain: the issue is no longer simply whether the waste will eventually be removed, but why it has taken so long for a promised state response to turn into physical action on the ground.

The organiser, NGO Gospić je naš dom (Gospic is our home), has vowed to continue. A message on its Facebook page reads: “When Lika called, Croatia responded! People stood with people … Our work here at this protest is not done. It’s just getting started!”

Authorities uncovered between 34,000 and 37,000 tonnes of waste at an industrial site near Gospić last year, much of it imported from Italy in 2023 and 2024. Investigators suspect illegal waste-management activities at the site and elsewhere in Croatia, while environmental campaigners say improperly stored material is threatening soil, air and water in one of the country's best-known natural regions.

Government officials say the cleanup has been complicated by the criminal investigation and the absence of an appropriate facility in Croatia for the disposal of the buried hazardous material.

On September 2, Plenković said the cleanup was entering a new phase. The government has selected a contractor to cover the site to prevent leakage and another to remove waste stored in bags, while authorities have begun the process of finding a European company capable of removing and disposing of the buried material.

The government estimates that around 4,500 tonnes of waste lies on the surface, while another 32,000 to 33,000 tonnes of ash is buried at the site. Plenković said a procedure for removing the buried waste should be completed within 20 days.

"We are not waiting and we are not standing idly by," Deputy Prime Minister and Construction Minister Branko Bačić said in August, after the government contacted around 70 companies across Europe capable of handling the material.

Promises versus action

The assurances have not resolved the underlying political problem. For months, the government's message has been that the machinery for a cleanup is being put in place: tenders have been launched, companies have been contacted, water samples are being taken and prosecutors are investigating those responsible.

An initial procurement procedure for removing waste dumped openly at the Gospić site attracted no bids. A second tender was launched in June. At the same time, the government has been conducting market research and preparing documents for an urgent procurement procedure.

The government says it is dealing with a highly unusual operation involving hazardous material that cannot simply be transported to an ordinary landfill. Finding a company elsewhere in Europe that can take the waste, obtain the necessary permits and provide a complete disposal solution is therefore a substantial logistical and legal undertaking.

But for residents living close to the site, those explanations have increasingly lost their force. The question has also been complicated by conflicting assessments of the environmental and health risks.

Plenković said on September 2 that no analysis by the Croatian Institute of Public Health had found a problem that would make public drinking water unsafe. He said tests had also found no PFAS compounds in the samples tested and urged residents to continue using the public water supply. That message is intended to reassure the public, but it does not remove the environmental concerns identified by other experts.

New evidence raises pressure

Expert findings published by Croatia's anti-corruption office USKOK this week found microplastic particles in groundwater near the Gospić waste site, providing new evidence of a connection between the illegally stored material and the surrounding groundwater system.

Samples taken on May 8 from three monitoring wells at Divоsel, near the site known as Silos Velebit, contained hundreds of thousands of particles, with 426,500 confirmed using Raman spectroscopy. Detailed analysis identified 148 particles belonging to priority polymers classified as microplastic.

The concentration was particularly pronounced at the Trag K monitoring location, which accounted for 132 of the 148 confirmed priority polymer particles.

The findings do not establish that public drinking water is unsafe, and the government has stressed that distinction. However, they do strengthen the environmental case for removing the waste rather than simply monitoring it.

The evidence also matters politically because Gospić is not an isolated case. USKOK's wider investigation covers suspected illegal waste-management activities at several locations, including Varaždin and Benkovac.

At a former factory site in Varaždin, experts found an estimated 1,352 tonnes of mixed waste, together with at least 30 tonnes of sludge-like material containing antimony. Microplastic and microbiological contamination were detected, along with elevated levels of dissolved organic carbon.

Experts said the contamination appeared largely localised and found no evidence that it had spread towards the Bartolovec water-supply area or nearby protected areas. But they warned that the waste sits above an unprotected aquifer without a sealing layer and could, in the event of flooding, release pollutants towards the Drava River.

They called for urgent waste removal and soil remediation. That makes the Gospić controversy part of a wider question about the state's capacity to police Croatia's waste-management sector rather than simply a single illegal dump.

Croatia's Flamingo Revolution? 

Protests over environmental issues have shown staying power elsewhere in the region. September 7 was the 100th consecutive day of protests in Albania, where the demonstrations against a planned development linked to US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner have erupted into a broader expression of unhappiness with the Albanian authorities. The protests have been dubbed the Flamingo Revolution, after one of the birds that inhabits the protected coastal wetland where the development is planned. 

In Serbia, international mining giant Rio Tinto's planned investment into a major lithium mine also sparked mass protests in recent years. 

Croatia's President Zoran Milanović and opposition parties such as the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Most (Bridge) have sought to capitalise on the waste scandal. On August 18, Milanovic called on parliament to hold an extraordinary session over the Gospić site, demanding immediate permanent remediation, regular reports to parliament and meetings between the government, residents and civic groups. He also called for stronger state oversight of waste sites across Croatia.

Milanović pointed to the fact that the State Inspectorate had been without a permanent chief since the government dismissed Andrija Mikulić in November 2025. Mikulić was subsequently arrested on suspicion of corruption linked to illegal waste disposal, allegations he denies.

The government has responded by stressing that USKOK and prosecutors are investigating those responsible and that offenders should face severe punishment. Officials accused opposition politicians of trying to exploit the crisis to destabilise the government. Deputy Prime Minister Ivan Anušić has described the dumping as an exceptionally serious criminal offence, saying it "borders on terrorism".