Marko Košak
Organisation
Zelena AkcijaJob title
Zero Waste Croatia, Vice President, Board Member and Zero Waste Programme Coordinator
Country
Croatia
Working Area
Croatia
Languages spoken
Croatian (Native), Serbian/Bosnian/Montenegrin (Native), English (Fluent), German (Intermediate/Profesionnal Setting), Spanish (Intermediate/Profesionnal Setting)
Personal bio
Marko is an expert in sustainable waste management with more than 13 years of experience in the field. He is also the vice president of Zelena akcija (Green action) / Friends of the Earth Croatia, established in 1990, the largest environmental organization in Croatia.
His work is mostly focused on cooperation and advocacy with local authorities and waste management companies, as well as campaigning for better national and local legislation. He has collaborated on the development of waste management systems in the most successful Croatian cities and municipalities and is a member of numerous working groups and committees at both national and local levels. He’s also active in task forces of various European networks, such as Zero Waste Europe, European Environmental Bureau, Break Free From Plastic, and Friends of the Earth Europe. Regarding cooperation with other Croatian organizations, it is worth mentioning that Marko is the coordinator of a national network of NGOs and initiatives working on various waste issues (Zero Waste Hrvatska), which has more than 50 active members. In 2022, he also established a network of NGOs and initiatives focused specifically on repair and reuse topics (HReuse).
Zero waste cities and islands, biowaste, repair/reuse, food waste, and plastics are his favorite topics, but in recent years he has also been very active in textile issues and campaigning against waste incineration.
He loves cooking, traveling, dogs, mushrooms, forests, the sea, and the mountains — and he usually spends his free time enjoying these activities.
MiZA accreditation type
- Zero Waste Cities Accredited Mentor
- Zero Waste Cities Accredited Auditor
Zero Waste expertise
- Biowaste
- Reuse & Repair Initiatives
- Recycling
- Waste Prevention
- Strategy Development
- Prevention of Food Waste
- Single-use Plastic Prevention
- Organics Management and Composting
- Separate Collection of Recyclables and Residual Waste
- Engaging Communities in Zero Waste Initiatives
- Textiles, Waste Incineration, Zero Waste islands
Project experiences
- Since 2015, he has been leading a network of Croatian cities and municipalities implementing zero waste measures. As part of this work, he prepares studies, provides recommendations, conducts projects and generally mentors interested municipalities and their public waste management companies. This has led to numerous successes — in 2025, the 20 most successful municipalities and cities in Croatia are those he has collaborated with. Some of these municipalities are candidates for MiZA certification, while others have already been certified.
- In 2022, he was the lead auditor in the Slovenian municipalities of Bled, Gorje, Log-Dragomer, Borovnica, and Vrhnika.
- Since 2020, he has been working with seven municipalities on the island of Krk, for which he prepared a study with recommendations that the municipalities are implementing. In 2024, they became the first Croatian municipalities to receive the zero waste certification awarded by the Mission Zero Academy.