49 MARTINDALE CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF PRIVATE ENTERPRISE is required to understand why not all municipalities can take similar steps and to build mechanisms that transfer local success into national practice. Recommendations Croatia’s waste management problems cannot be solved by addressing any one variable in isolation. The problem stems from higher waste generation by tourists exceeding municipal capacities, fragmented governance preventing coordinated action, and EU-mandated timelines outpacing the ability to make changes. To address these shortcomings, the following recommendations target all shortcomings simultaneously and are designed to be achievable across municipalities of varying size, wealth, and geography. Shifting enforcement of waste management to inter-municipal waste management groups One of the largest barriers to addressing the crisis is that both waste management and enforcement are left to individual municipalities. Because each has its own set of challenges, some are unable to prioritize waste management policies, causing them to lag. By shifting the enforcement of waste management to a multi-municipality initiative, pressure felt by single municipalities will be lessened. The national government should implement a legal and financial framework for voluntary inter-municipal consortia with agreed-upon service standards, pooled infrastructure, and coordinated seasonal planning. This model would be similar to the Kvarner Bay integrated waste management system established during the Homeland War era. Those municipalities who agree to join inter-municipal consortia should receive preferential access to EU resources. This solution directly targets the range of waste management treatment between neighboring communities like Orebić and Dubrovnik that, while in the same county, have a waste separation rate approximately 18 times apart. Improving access to EU funds for waste management projects EU funding has been unequally distributed among municipalities in Croatia. Rather than requiring more, Croatia must design a solution to ensure that current levels are evenly distributed. The unequal access partially stems from certain smaller and less wealthy municipalities struggling to write competitive grant applications and managing reporting requirements. To address this problem, Croatia’s national government should establish county-level technical assistance offices in all counties that provide grant writing assistance and project management specialists who can ensure that waste management is addressed in all municipalities, thus providing more oversight and support to those that have fallen behind. These offices would mirror other programs used in post-accession EU member states like the Joint Assistance to Support Projects in European Regions program that assists local and regional authorities to implement strategies for a greener and more connected Europe (European Investment Bank, 2025). Establishing offices specifically geared toward waste management at a local level will ensure that the least resourced municipalities struggling to separate and manage waste are not perpetually excluded from funding that would improve their situation. Scaling the Krk and Zlarin waste management models through a peer learning network Krk and Zlarin provide examples of how community initiatives, rather than national policy, can lead to vast improvements in waste management. This community effort is what makes their progress durable and should be used as inspiration to other municipalities. Rather than attempting to copy their approach directly, municipalities should build on the conditions enabling their success, including community pressure, local political will, access to innovation, and use of enforceable local ordinances. A national sustainable network should be created to help transfer knowledge. This network should model existing European frameworks like the ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability network that aims to drive systemic urban change by supporting local governments across over 125 countries (ICLEI, n.d.). Participation in these networks should be voluntary but strongly encouraged to respect the bottom-up and community driven approach that has proved effective, while providing a structured pathway for struggling municipalities. Conclusion Croatia’s waste challenge sits between tourism-driven growth and EU mandates for reduction. It struggles to manage this waste generation as waste management is segregated across 428 individual municipalities with uneven capacity to address the issue. Fragmentation is the central structural condition that makes tourism pressure unmanageable and EU compliance unachievable. While some municipalities have successfully implemented waste management policies and reduced their own waste, others are lagging. Addressing this disconnect is paramount because if left alone, waste will continue accumulat-
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