Background The Croatian National Environment Action Plan cites inadequate waste management as a key environmental problem in the country. The recycling of plastic bottles is one element of waste management that has in particular been highlighted in domestic reports on the subject, and well developed system of plastic bottle recycling in Croatia could have significant environmental benefits. Before the advent of the project, existing schemes for the recycling of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in Croatia included a bottle bank scheme in Zagreb. However, results from this scheme were less than satisfactory, as the quantity and quality of the collected material was fairly low, and the system did not have much public support. In 2002 only 5% or 200 to 250 tonnes of all PET consumed in Zagreb was recovered. Furthermore, the quality of the collected PET material was low and the pre-processing process was expensive. In coastal areas, where in summertime the tourists generate a significant contribution to Croatia's GDP, but also produce a significant amount of waste, no collection schemes were operational. As a result of the above, there was great need to boost PET collection and recycling in Croatia. Objectives The overall objective was to build a recycling infrastructure for Croatia. More specifically, the project aimed to improve the present collection scheme, introduce new collection systems and connect PET collectors and recyclers in Croatia to the wider European market. At the same time, the project would assist the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Physical Planning in implementing and enforcing its new rule book on packaging waste. Results Shortly after the launch of the LIFE project, a new ordinance on packaging and packaging waste was enacted on 1 January, 2006, with the LIFE project supporting the Croatian government in organising the new system. The rules for collection, transportation and recycling of packaging waste are defined in the new regulation and the collection of PET bottles began nationwide in the same month. However it was very difficult to distinguish between the activities proposed in the LIFE project and the introduction of the new PET collection scheme enacted by the new ordinance. The LIFE project essentially became redundant and thus failed to reach its objectives. The LIFE project is not considered a successful project, as there are no tangible results available that could be used for other countries in the region. Since the PET collection has been established in Croatia by law, the system might become sustainable independent of the LIFE project. It is still too early to assess if the PET collection scheme introduced in Croatia is economically and technically sound, although the involved parties are committed to setting up a functioning structure. In terms of what was achieved by the project, the technical activities were mainly related to the installation of five reverse vending machines (RVM) for the collection of PET bottles located at public places such as supermarkets, universities and the airport in Zagreb. PET bottles could be deposited in the vending machines. The vending machines were used as demonstration machines in order to introduce a new collection scheme in Croatia, which was put in place together with training and dissemination activities.