Implementation began on May 6 and will last six months. The partners in the project are the Croatian and Austrian environment agencies.
The EU provides 90 per cent of the funds and Croatia the rest, Croatian Environmental Protection Agency director Neven Voca said, adding that waste management was one of the burning topics ahead of Croatia's EU accession.
Davor Percan of the EU Delegation said the project was important because it would enable the transfer of Austria's knowledge and experience in collecting data important for environmental protection and waste management, which would improve alignment with EU policies.
The data will be sent to the European Environment Agency, which creates policies that will apply to Croatia when it joins the EU on July 1, and Croatia will contribute to the environmental situation in the EU, said Percan.
Assistant Environment and Nature Protection Minister Mario Obrdalj said that by adopting the EU acquis, Croatia also took on demanding goals, notably in waste management.
Christian Brawenz of the Austrian Embassy said it was necessary to strive for waste reduction and recycling, and thanked Croatia for choosing Austria as its project partner.