engleski

Circular economy and septage management on the islands in Croatia

This paper analyzes the problem of septage management on Croatian islands in accordance with the circular economy framework. A large number of individual housing facilities on Croatian islands are not connected to the public sewage system. As a solution to the requirements of the competent services, holding tanks are used which are largely permeable and generally function as septic tanks. Due to tourism activities the amount of wastewater seasonally varies considerably and in summer is up to 10 times higher than in winter. Such situation creates major problems for property owners due to mostly uncontrolled disposing of septage, which endangers the environment. Although the situation is improving by application of EU Directives, due to poor population density septage management will remain a permanent problem. The EU legal framework requires that organic waste be disposed in accordance with the principles of circular economy. This also applies to septage which is partly stabilized organic waste. Sustainable septage management on islands can be achieved by applying the system approach methodology presented in the paper.

Islands ; Septic tank ; Circular economy ; System approach ; Croatia

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