More than 35,000 tonnes of hazardous waste were illegally disposed of in Varaždin, Gospić and Benkovac, discovered with Europol's assistance.

Omissions

• Europol's press release gives the figure as exactly '35 000 tonnes'; the MEP's wording 'more than 35,000 tonnes' rounds this up. Local environmental activists, cited by DW, claim that as much as 37,000 tonnes were dumped in Gospić alone, which would support the 'more than' framing.
• The three specific disposal sites named in the claim (Varaždin, Gospić and Benkovac) could not be individually confirmed in the sources retrieved: the Europol release refers to waste disposed 'in Croatia', while the independent secondary reporting retrieved (The Guardian, DW) explicitly confirms Gospić. The other two localities remain unverified.
• The Guardian article (2026-09-25) and the DW article were published on or after the session date (2026-09-17) and could not have been known to the MEP at the time of the speech; they are used here only as corroboration of the underlying fact.
• The 35,000 tonnes figure comes from a Europol-supported criminal investigation (February 2025), not from a Eurostat or national statistics publication, so it is an operational estimate rather than an audited statistic.

Sources

• PrimaryEuropol — 13 persons arrested for illegally disposing 35 000 tonnes of hazardous wasteTitle: '13 persons arrested for illegally disposing 35 000 tonnes of hazardous waste'. 'Criminals made at least EUR 4 million by illegally disposing of medical and hazardous waste from Italy, Slovenia and Germany in Croatia.' 'On 13 February 2025, Croatian law enforcement authorities arrested 13 persons suspected of being part of an environmental crime network.'
• SecondaryVOA / Associated Press — 13 people arrested in Croatia for illegally disposing of hazardous waste'13 people arrested in Croatia for illegally disposing of hazardous waste.' By Associated Press, February 14, 2025.
• SecondaryDW — Croatia: Toxic waste protest draws tens of thousands'Local environmental activists dispute the number of waste tons and say 37,000 tons had been illegally dumped in Gospic alone. Prosecutors ...'
• SecondaryThe Guardian — The Croatian town that took on an illegal waste dump'Between 2022 and 2024, waste was illegally abandoned at several sites in the town. At one of the biggest, just 50 metres from Šikić's home, an estimated 35,000 tonnes of waste, some of it hazardous, was dumped and buried.'