As part of the Association Sunce project “Plastic Smart Cities”, the City Council of Trogir at its last session, 5th October, 2021, adopted a Decision on Restricting the Use of Disposable Plastics to the City of Trogir and Institutions and Companies (Co)Owned by the City, as well as all public events (co)organized or (co)financed by the City.
The same decision was adopted by the Dubrovnik City Council two months ago, making these cities one of the first in Croatia which take one step further in the implementation of EU directive on disposable plastic.
The decision prescribes measures that determine the restriction of using disposable plastics in administrative bodies, in the institutions and in companies (co)owned by the City of Trogir. Also, it prescribes the replacement of certain products, which are used in business, with more environmentally friendly solutions, all in order to prevent and/or reducing negative impact of certain plastic products on enviroment.
Moreover, it is prescribed that the use of disposable plastic is limited to all public events that the City of Trogir (co)organizes or (co)finances. The city, institutions and companies are obliged to ensure or arrange, with the organizer of public events, a separate collection of waste at the venue, as well as its timely and appropriate removal and disposal. Also, in the operations of the City, institutions and companies, it is necessary from now to apply the criteria and benchmarks of green public procurement whenever possible.
With the adoption of the Action Plan to Reduce the Plastic Pollution in the City of Trogir for the period 2021-2026 in April 2021, of which the implementation began in June with the organization of a two-day workshop, the City of Trogir had become the second city in Croatia to adopt such a document. Some measures have been applied even before the adoption of the Plan and the Decision.
The decision covers a total of 10 key measures:
- placing containers for separate waste collection (plastic, paper, glass, electronic waste, biowaste, mixed municipal waste, etc.) in appropriate places within institutions and separating waste at the place of origin, whenever possible, as well as ensuring adequate transportation and disposal of all separately collected waste
- digitization of documents and promotion of the use of electronic documents among employees and officials whenever possible
- replacement of disposable plastic cups with glass or other reusable cups
- replacement of disposable plastic straws with reuse solutions (straws made of alternative materials such as paper, bamboo, steel)
- replacement of disposable plastic cutlery and plastic coffee spoons with reusable metal utensils or available alternatives made of natural and biodegradable or compostable materials (wood, paper, fiber, sugar cane, bamboo cane, etc.)
- ensuring the possibility of using reusable cups on coffee and water machines, ie completely eliminating the use of disposable plastic cups
- ensuring the supply of beverages and other liquids exclusively in returnable packaging whenever possible
- replacing all disposable plastic bags with reusable tote or paper bags whenever possible
- gradual replacement and procurement of office supplies and hygiene supplies without plastic packaging whenever possible
- gradual replacement and procurement of cleaning and personal hygiene products with environmentally friendly ingredients (such as natural cleaning products) and the use of reusable products to reduce the generation of packaging waste.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has launched the Plastic Smart Cities initiative which supports coastal municipalities and communities in taking action to stop plastic pollution. Other Mediterranean and European cities, such as Nice, Izmir, Tangier, Amsterdam and Venice, are also part of this initiative. The action plan was adopted as a part of the Plastic Smart Cities Croatia project, and Trogir was joined in October 2020. Plastic Smart City Trogir project partners are: WWF Mediterranean, the Association Sunce Split and the City of Trogir.
