Antonio DEKANIĆ
PhD, Assistant, University of Rijeka, Faculty of Economics and Business, Rijeka, Croatia
antonio.dekanic@efri.uniri.hr
Marinela KRSTINIĆ NIŽIĆ
PhD, Full Professor, University of Rijeka, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Opatija,Croatia
marikn@fthm.hr
Christos Ap. LADIAS
PhD, Professor, Regional Science Inquiry Journal, Greece
Ladias@rsijournal.eu
Abstract
The waste management system on the islands is complex and does not involve a traditional municipal service, mainly due to the strong seasonality of tourism, limited space and regional differences. Wastemanagement is a big challengefor tourist destinations during the tourist season, when there is a significant influx of tourists, which results in larger amounts of waste. Theaim of this paper is to exploretheir views through qualitativeresearch through in-depth interviews with representatives or waste management experts in the utility companies oftheCroatianislands. Thepurposeoftheresearchis to expand theunderstanding and explore the principles of waste management on the islands in Croatia and evaluate their effectiveness. The authors analyze the established waste management systems and, using in-depth interviews, examine whether effective waste management can make the island sustainable. This is one of the few pieces of research on the topic of waste management in terms of sustainabletourism development, which refers to island utility companies in Croatia that deal with waste management. Theconducted research is focused on theCroatian islands, but the model is more widely applicable. It is expected that the results of the research will contribute to political decision makers, decision makers in utility companies and managers, creators of measures and regulations regarding waste management, representatives of municipalities and cities of island tourist destinations.
Keywords: Regional sustainability, waste management, development, Croatian islands,
JEL classification: Q01, Q56, R11
pp. 73-94