While public attention is focused on Gospić, residents of Poznanovec in Krapina-Zagorje County have lived next to an illegal dump for years. The only bid for remediation amounts to €11.7 million excluding VAT, with a decision expected in September.
While public attention in recent days has turned to the illegal waste dump in Gospić, a similar problem has been plaguing residents of Poznanovec in the Bedekovčina municipality for years. According to estimates, there are approximately 13,000 tons of garbage at the site, and despite frequent announcements, cleanup work has yet to begin. The start of remediation was announced for autumn 2025, and the public procurement was published in February 2026.
Residents warn that waste began being brought to the Poznanovec area as early as 2014. It is suspected that part of this waste was illegally imported from Slovenia. "It's now 2026, and dumping started in 2014, that's more than ten years. Some is buried in the ground, some is piled up... There's so much garbage that's decomposing and being blown by the wind. It stinks," said resident Ana Merkaš for HRT.
Laboratory analyses have confirmed that hazardous waste is also present at the site. "According to the analyses, there's a lot of waste that could go to municipal landfills, but there's also hazardous waste—this is shredded waste from these bales, and it's assumed to be hazardous waste that would need to be remediated in a different way," said Željko Odak, mayor of Bedekovčina municipality.
The Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund has issued a tender for the removal and disposal of waste from two locations in Poznanovec. At the end of June 2026, only one bid was received, submitted by a group of three companies. The bid is worth €11.7 million excluding VAT, which is 50 percent more than the estimated cost for the entire project. One of the options for disposing of hazardous waste is incineration abroad.
The deadline for deciding on the contractor expires in September 2026, and Krapina-Zagorje County Prefect Željko Kolar expects the contract to be signed despite the increased price. "What I expect is that, regardless of the price increase, the government, or rather the Fund, will sign the remediation contract, and that we will start and finish the remediation as soon as possible. The county will cover part of the costs in any case," Kolar said for HRT.
Residents and members of the Jana association, which has initiated a series of protests, emphasize that Poznanovec has unfairly fallen into the background after the Gospić affair. "Not a single person has lifted a finger to help; now that there's panic about Gospić, they're the main ones," said Darinka Gorup, a resident of Poznanovec.
Jasna Ocvirek, president of the Jana association, warns of potential health consequences. "All waste is dangerous; it's been sitting here for years, settling, dissolving, seeping into groundwater, and poisoning our region. And beyond. They have never refuted that there is a higher number of young people dying from malignant diseases here than in other parts of Krapina-Zagorje County," Ocvirek stated.
On the other hand, Prefect Kolar notes that regular water monitoring has been conducted since 2024 through the Institute of Public Health, and analyses so far have not shown any impurities. Additionally, data from the Institute of Public Health shows that the number of cancer cases in Poznanovec and Bedekovčina does not differ from the average for Krapina-Zagorje County.
