Rehabilitation Fund in Gospić: Everything could cost up to €125 million

– If we are talking about buried waste, there are four potential ways of remediation. The first way, what was proposed as a temporary solution, is the so-called encapsulation, covering the waste with an impermeable layer to prevent seepage of precipitation through the body of that illegally disposed waste. This would also prevent contamination of groundwater and aquifers. It would cost from two to three million euros – said the deputy director of FZOEU Mirko Budiša.

However, the addition of the findings showed that until the investigation, moreć that is, the chemicals have penetrated into the groundwater downstream from the landfill. Another possibility is the complete removal of waste and its transport to a hazardous waste disposal site abroad.

– Another option is to completely excavate this waste and take it to a hazardous waste disposal site. Unfortunately, we do not have such a landfill in Croatia. Last week, we sent an inquiry to ten addresses of such landfills in the European Union. It would cost from 20 to 25 million euros – he said. The third option is the most expensive and its price exceeds 100 million euros.

Photo: Josip Mikacic/PIXSELL

– The third option is to dig up that waste and take it to the incinerator. It would cost between 100 and 125 million euros – he said.

He mentioned waste stabilization as the fourth possibility.

– Č the fourth option we are considering is solidification, i.e. stabilization. The waste would be converted from hazardous to non-hazardous through physico-chemical methods. As such, it could be disposed of at a non-hazardous waste disposal site. It would cost from 10 to 15 million euros – he pointed out.

– What the Deputy Director of the Fund, Mirko Budiša, is saying is completely contrary to the conclusions of the meeting with the Government from 10 days ago, at which he himself attended!  Furthermore, the methods he mentions, which leave the possibility of either covering or solidifolation and disposal in the Lika area, is, as we said also at the meeting, unacceptable. The covering was supposed to be a preventive measure. Just as solidification should and could have been a preventive measure. The time for both was a year and a half ago, while the removal was expected. Today, these are no longer preventive measures but a substitute for rehabilitation. And what is incomprehensible – the Fund is still thinking about methods after a year and a half!!! What have you been doing for the last year and a half?! – they announced from the initiative.

They emphasize that any discussions about the procurement procedure for remediation are out of the question, and they demand an urgent negotiation procedure and urgent remediation, which includes excavation and removal of waste.

After the chief state attorney Ivan Turudić guest a few days ago on RTL said that they had received an extensive expert report from the Faculty of Geotechnics in Vara&zcarondin on more than 350 pages and that “the findings are not great” and that “Lika in that area is contaminated”, Uskok published the findings and opinion and the supplement to the findings on his pages.

Riverč is about the investigation being conducted against Varaždin entrepreneur Josip Šincek, his wife Monika and others for illegal waste disposal in Varaždin, Gospić and Benkovac.

Photo: Igor Soban/PIXSELL

– The findings showed that, by chance, everything happened that we warned could happen and that urgent action was actually an obligation, and everyone ignored it. At the location and within a radius of 50 meters, there is permanent pollution with microplastics and heavy metals, and through the cracks, antimony as a heavy metal and microplastics seeped into the groundwater, downstream from the object of pollution – a member of the civic initiative Gospić told us. is our home. They require urgent remediation immediately.

– So, there is no more waiting and there are no longer any extensions of deadlines. Remediation must be undertaken immediately and now in order to prevent further pollution. Which exists, there is a threat, and this is clearly stated in the expert’s opinion – the citizens are determined.

Troskot asserted that the wordč about “serious national high treason and a threat to national security” and said that the problem does not affect only Gospić and Lika, but also the area downstream from the Lika river towards Gacka, the town of Senj and the islands of the northern coast.

– People are not even aware of what the most common chemical – PFAS – means. It is called eternal because once it enters the ecosystem, it cannot be thrown out. We cannot wait for some kind of public procurement of that illegal waste that is under the ground, but it must be put in barrels and tanks and it must go deep under the ground in the same way as nuclear waste is cleaned – believes Troskot.