After two months of work, nearly 30,000 cubic meters of slag were transferred to the Bikarac Waste Management Center and used for the remediation of Landfill Plot 1, creating conditions for the start of the Batižele project.
The site of the former Electrode and Ferroalloy Factory (TEF) in Šibenik has been completely cleared of slag, it was confirmed on Thursday, August 13, 2026. This concludes a months-long operation to remove material that had been sitting on the site for decades, and now the size and attractiveness of the land intended for the Batižele project are even more evident.
Over the past two months, the slag has been transferred to the Bikarac Waste Management Center, where it was used for the remediation and closure of Landfill Plot 1. According to preliminary data from Šibenski kanal, this amounts to nearly 30,000 cubic meters of material. The Mayor of Šibenik, Željko Burić, mentioned a slightly lower figure in his statement, speaking of almost 27,000 cubic meters, so sources slightly differ in their estimates of the quantity.
Mayor Burić emphasized that the removal of the slag is, in effect, the beginning of work on the former TEF site. "It was a very complex story, from the legal-property aspect to the removal of the remaining slag, because that part was also problematic, meaning we had to reach a status where it could be removed," Burić said for Šibenski kanal.
He explained that the material went through all the necessary procedures and has the status of inert construction material. "This has now been confirmed and proven in practice when the slag was used for the project of closing the first waste landfill within the Bikarac Waste Management Center," the mayor added. The cost of removal was borne by the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund.
Robert Podrug, Director of the Bikarac WMC, explained that the intention was to use this material, which was causing problems at TEF, as construction material during the remediation of Plot 1. "Our intention was to use this material from TEF, which was causing problems there and had no place there, as construction material for the remediation of Plot 1, and we succeeded in that, and our designers did a good job," Podrug said.
The slag is used beneath the geomembranes as a leveling material, which allows the membranes to adhere well to the ground. "Without leveling material, this would be very difficult because waste itself is a heterogeneous mass, and it's hard to achieve a flat surface with it," Podrug explained.
The total cost of the works amounts to around €3.8 million, financed through non-refundable funds from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund. The contractor is the company Opera group.
The main construction works on the remediation of Plot 1 should be completed by the end of August 2026. Currently, the upper sealing layers are being installed, on top of which a drainage layer will be placed, which is released into gas wells, meaning active degassing is being carried out with the gas connected to a flare.
Greening of Plot 1 is planned for September 2026. "The heat is extreme, and I think that if we were to sow now, it would just be throwing money away given the temperatures. So we will wait for better climatic conditions for that final layer, but the bulk of these works that need to be done will be finished by the end of August," Podrug concluded.
With the clearing of the former TEF site, Šibenik has gained space for the Batižele project, while also resolving the long-standing issue of slag disposal at that location.
