Thousands of tonnes of hazardous waste containing PFAS were illegally imported and dumped at Gospić in Croatia, in a location connected to the drinking water supply.

Omissions

• Independent reporting quantifies the waste as approximately 45,000 tonnes of hazardous plastic and medical waste — i.e. tens of thousands of tonnes, well above the minimum implied by 'thousands of tonnes'.
• The claim states the waste was 'illegally imported' and 'directly connected to the drinking water supply'; the located sources confirm illegal dumping and groundwater pollution but the cross-border 'import' origin and the direct link to the drinking-water supply are not fully detailed in the accessible source excerpts.
• The most detailed source (The Guardian) was published on 2026-09-25, after the session date of 2026-09-17, so the MEP could not have relied on that specific article, although the underlying events predate the session.
• No primary official source (Croatian ministry, national inspectorate, or Eurostat) was located; the evidence rests on secondary reporting and an NGO source.

Sources

• SecondaryEUobserver — Croatia's toxic waste dump scandal shows the cost of Europe's forever chemicalsSome 45,000 tonnes of hazardous plastic and medical waste lies uncollected and polluting groundwater in Croatia more than a year after it was [dumped].
• SecondaryThe Guardian — the Croatian town that took on an illegal waste dumpAfter years of illegal mass flytipping in Gospić, fed-up residents decided to take matters into their own hands.
• SecondaryCHEM Trust — Protests in Croatia over dumped hazardous waste, and concerns over PFAS pollutionThe civic initiative 'Gospic is Our Home' organised the event and demanded the urgent clean-up of illegally dumped waste buried near the town of [Gospić], amid concerns over PFAS pollution.