How to Organize a System of Waste Disposal from Valovine Peninsula?

Kruno Jost

09 September 2005

The Zelena Istra Environmental Association, in reaction to the number of calls on its �Green Phone� hotline and its own findings, focused its attention on the problem of waste left on Valovine Peninsula and it �Seagul�s Rock� beach, near Pula in Istria.

Piles of litter on Valovina beaches

In spite the agreement it reached with the communal services enterprise of Pula to regularly clean the area, it was done only once: immediately before the start of the tourist season. Nothing was done on the agreement that provided that Herkulanea Enterprise will install waste-containers in the area.

�Very little of the agreed was actually done. The area was cleaned only once, before the season started. Only one waste container was installed, on the access road, and even that was done after our intervention with the authorities, two weeks after the agreed date. No containers were placed inside the beach itself, so beach-goers collect their waste in plastic bags that they put in little piles all over the place�, said to us at Zelena Istra.

In mid-August, Zelena Istra contacted the Department of Communal Services of the City of Pula. The officials there told them that the container was not installed for �unknown reasons� and, furthermore, having in mind that the season was almost over, there were no plans to install it until the next season starts.

Zelena Istra says that the organization will persist and its activists are certain that they will �manage� for another container to be placed on Valovina next year.