Although the law clearly regulates the obligation of local government to take measures for rehabilitation of wild landfills, it is not applied in practice, at least not so easily.

Recently, the Green Phone of Association Green Osijek received a report of one such site in the town of Vukovar. It is a plot owned by the Croatian Railways, which is not in operation and which is regularly used by the local population as a landfill.

At the request of a caller to rehabilitate the site, municipal services simply declared itself incompetent to take any measures.  We informed the caller about the legal obligations of municipal services after which they were suddenly familiar with the legal provisions.

The existence of such sites is not uncommon and their suppression sometimes becomes a battle with windmills. Unfortunately, there are too many citizens who do not see any problem in this way of waste disposal and do not perceive the consequences for the environment at all. Education and raising awareness of citizens are a necessary prerequisite in order to keep such sites green after the rehabilitation.