On May 23, all members of the Environmental Advisory Council of the City of Split were invited to the roundtable “Environmental Priorities in the City of Split” as relevant stakeholders in environmental issues in the area of the city. Members of the Council are also representatives of city administration, counties, communal companies, non-governmental organizations, private rehabilitators, media and civic initiatives as well as other important Croatian institutions such as Croatian Forests. The roundtable was attended by 11 participants.

The meeting was held at the Sali PAR/RAC conference in Split from 9:30 to 15:00 and focused on two issues:

– Marjan Forest Park
– Waste

These two focus points were selected by the project team on the basis of the previous experience in the work of the Advisory Council, which without a doubt suggests that the city of Split is precisely this burning topic and topic of utmost social interest. Thus, the current state of the topics has been discussed and some participants have also briefed recent relevant events.

In the debate on the roundtable, the need to raise the awareness of Split citizens about the usefulness and necessity of separate waste collection was crystallized. Judging by calls to the Green Phone, such awareness exists to some extent, but is not sufficiently realized in terms of the habit of citizens in waste separation or their infrastructure does not provide sufficient conditions. The discussion concludes that the Utility Company Čistoća offers the possibility of separate waste collection by the system “From door to door” in the districts Varoš and City in such a way that every 1st and 15th of the month citizens in front of their doors are disposing of separately collected paper and plastic.

A proposal supported by most of the attendees of the roundtable is the organization of a public promotion action, which is a system already existing in the Varoš district at two locations. It is thought that the promotional action consists in informing the public and sharing the basic package for easy and successful joining from the beginning – yellow plastic bags, blue for paper and multiple canvas bags that will be developed within this project.

The scheduled date of the action is Saturday, June 4, 2016, on the eve of the Environmental Day which is marked on June 5th. The venue for the action is two locations in the Varoš district, which is most “frequent” in the morning, especially in the time from 9:00 to 13:00, for which action is planned.

All participants in the roundtable also proposed the conclusion of a Cooperation Agreement on the promotion of the awareness of individuals and the society on the importance of environmental and nature protection. The conclusion of the agreement is expected in September 2016.