A Zagreb resident attempted to hand over two broken televisions, but staff refused, saying no one in the city would accept them. The issue has persisted since February 2025, and the Environmental Protection Fund has yet to find a new authorized collector.
A frustrated Zagreb resident tried to take two broken televisions to a recycling center on August 6, 2026, but was met with an unexpected response, not only could they not accept his devices, but he was told that no one in Zagreb would take them.
"Where can I take them without having to dump them in the woods at night?" the citizen asked on Reddit, where he shared his experience, which quickly sparked a flood of comments from other users facing the same problem.
Although recycling centers in Zagreb are the primary destination for disposing of recyclable waste, the responsibility for managing certain types of electronic waste lies not with Zagreb Holding but with the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund. It is the Fund that is tasked with finding a company to collect electronic waste across Croatia.
Zagreb Holding confirmed the scale of the problem last autumn. "The Fund has been without an authorized collector for EE waste categories 2-6 since mid-February 2025, and no new contract has been signed to date. As a result, numerous public service providers have faced difficulties, including a temporary suspension of intake at recycling centers," they stated.
Reddit users further clarified the situation in the comments. "As far as I know, the state has no concessionaire for collecting old TVs. The Fund reportedly offers a price that is not acceptable to electronic waste collection companies. In Zagreb, Spectra media was responsible for this type of waste. It has nothing to do with local waste management units," one user wrote.
Others offered practical, albeit not entirely legal, advice. "If you don't want to dump them in nature yourself, you can contact those crews that haul waste. Alternatively, you can keep them in the shed or attic, there's nowhere in Zagreb that accepts old TVs," one commenter said.
This is not the first time that staff at Zagreb recycling centers have refused to accept broken televisions. Večernji list has sent a written inquiry to the Environmental Protection Fund and Zagreb Holding about the current situation and plans to resolve this months-long issue, and the response will be published as soon as it arrives.
