SYMPOSIUM ON WASTE MANAGEMENT OPENS IN ZAGREB

ZAGREB, Nov 25 (Hina) - The fifth international symposium "Waste Management Zagreb 98" opened in the Croatian capital on Wednesday. The three-day meeting has gathered about eighty speakers from 14 European countries from the field of waste management. Opening the meeting, Reconstruction and Development Minister Jure Radic said the Croatian authorities would "spare neither means nor effort to engage in solving the problem of waste management and solve it in accordance with the highest ecological standards". Speaking about the treatment of waste in Croatia, Zlatko Milanovic of ZGO, a Zagreb-based company for waste management and environmental protection, said that the quantity of waste (communal, technological and secondary) amounted to nine million tonnes in Croatia in 1998. As regards the category of waste, it is similar to other European countries, but there is an obvious decrease in paper and glass waste. The quantity of waste is expected to increase with the improvement of living standards, he added. Milanovic also warned of the danger of inadequate control and incomplete incineration of waste, wood and organic waste due to poisonous gases and the possibility of increased pollution. (hina) mm rml