Groundwater in Gospić Contaminated With Microplastics

Groundwater beneath an illegal waste site in Gospić contains an extraordinarily high concentration of microplastics, according to an expert report published by Croatia’s Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organized Crime, known as Uskok. Residents are demanding immediate remediation and criminal accountability for those involved.

Researchers from the Josip Juraj Strossmayer Institute tested water at three locations: upstream, directly beside the waste, and downstream. The water flowing toward the site was almost clean. Beneath the landfill, however, 89% of all detected plastic was found in the water. Downstream, researchers measured 737 micrograms of polystyrene, or Styrofoam, per liter, a concentration the report describes as extraordinarily high in nature.

Spectroscopic analysis identified crushed Styrofoam, polyethylene used in bags and films, polypropylene, PET packaging, and polytetrafluoroethylene, better known as Teflon. The latter belongs to the PFAS family of so-called forever chemicals, which rarely break down in nature. The institute analyzed particles as small as five micrometers, meaning the contamination includes microplastics invisible to the naked eye.

Because the particles have almost the same density as water, groundwater can carry them through cracks in the karst terrain instead of leaving them on the bottom. The report identifies the Lika River as part of the same underground water body, raising the direct risk that contamination from Gospić could reach the river through underground karst channels.

After years of warnings from residents and environmental groups, investigators began examining businessman Josip Šincek and his company Tipos Resurs in February. Authorities say waste from Italy and Slovenia was brought in under the guise of raw materials for the supposed production of construction blocks, then buried without proper control or left exposed in the sensitive karst area. The investigation concerns about 37,000 tonnes of waste. It has also reached local institutions, including senior county environmental adviser Jerko Kostelac, a longtime HDZ employee suspected of helping Tipos Resurs obtain permits after inspectors found irregularities and of falsifying official inspection records.