Waste and local communities
Waste near Senj: City councillor Hrvoje Bezjak calls for comprehensive landfill remediation
In an interview with Ekologija.hr, Bezjak discusses residents' warnings, collecting photographs and reporting suspected irregularities. He says closing the landfill is not enough and that the waste already deposited there must also be addressed.
What was happening at the landfill above Sveti Juraj, and what needs to be done after its closure? In the interview, Bezjak describes his involvement, from residents' first warnings to reporting the matter to the competent authorities.
For him, it is also a personal issue. He is concerned about the condition of the area where he lives and what will be left for future generations.
Residents' first warnings and photographs
Bezjak places the first warnings during the coronavirus pandemic. He describes a disparity between restrictions on residents and waste deliveries: while residents could not cross county boundaries without a pass, articulated lorries and trucks, he claims, were passing through and unloading tonnes of waste.
“Residents of Sveti Juraj, while walking in nature, noticed unusual, suspicious bags of plastic and materials that have nothing to do with municipal waste,” says Bezjak.
“Some people took photographs. Years later, we had to retrieve that evidence from old mobile phones and hand it over to USKOK,” says Bezjak.
He says he used residents' photographs and observations to draw the authorities' attention to events at the landfill.
“When you see it with your own eyes, you feel deep indignation, but also a duty not to stay silent,” says Bezjak.
From a City Council question to a formal report
Bezjak says that he also raised questions about waste in the City Council. After the session at which he raised the issue, he decided to submit the information he had gathered to the competent authorities.
“That very day I went home, gathered all the evidence I had and filed a criminal complaint against unknown perpetrators,” he says, describing what he did.
He explains his persistence through concern for his family and responsibility towards children.
“I do not have parliamentary immunity and must watch every word, but there is no private interest behind me, only my family and my children. For their sake, we must leave behind a healthy country,” says Bezjak.
Bezjak also links his concern for residents' health to his personal experience and the work he does.
“I work in patient transport and see these cancer patients every day,” he says.
A call for remediation, not just closure
For Bezjak, closing the landfill does not resolve the issue of waste already deposited there.
According to official GKD Senj information, the company operates the “Sveti Juraj” non-hazardous waste landfill. [1] In an announcement dated 12 August 2026, the City of Senj states that the competent county authority decided on 3 July 2026 to close the landfill to further waste disposal because it had reached capacity. In the same announcement, the City distinguishes the remediation work carried out from 2016 to 2018 from full and final remediation, for which it said at the time that an application to a call by the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund was under way. [2]
He calls for attention to focus not only on ending use of the site, but also on the condition of the land and further management of the deposited waste.
He considers what remains at the site to be the central problem. “The hazardous waste stayed down there, beneath the sheeting,” he claims.
Speaking about the sea, he recalls a summer boat trip to submarine springs.
“This summer I went by boat to the submarine springs and saw strange, unusual foam rising from underground,” he says.
“I demand comprehensive and urgent remediation of the site, not a cosmetic closure!” he says.
This topic therefore continues to centre on what has been established at the site, which measures are needed and how the public will be informed about their implementation. Answers should be based on documentation, expert findings and clearly defined obligations of those responsible.
An invitation for citizens to report concerns
He calls on residents who notice possible irregularities to keep photographs and other materials they have and submit them to the competent institutions.
“Don't be afraid, and report it! Don't wait for someone else to do the work for you,” says Bezjak.
At the end of the interview, he again emphasises responsibility towards future generations:
“We are fighting for what we leave to our children and grandchildren!”
Specific questions remain for the City of Senj, GKD Senj and the competent authorities: what has been established about the composition of the deposited material, what testing has been carried out, and what will the final remediation cover, who will perform it and within what time frame?