Cartomb: A systemic problem with out-of-function vehicles in Slovenia
Oštro
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The investigative project Cartomb disclosed a systemic problem with out-of-function vehicles in Slovenia, as more than 70 unreported car dumps were discovered across the country. A portion of them is located on official lands, belonging to municipalities, the state, or a state-owned company.
Photo: Oštro
Several dumps that have existed for decades have not been remediated, despite reports to the environmental inspectorate or even despite the inspectorate’s actions. Most dumps are located on land owned by private individuals, while just under 20 percent are on land owned by municipalities, the state, or state-owned companies.
A third of illegal car dumps remain despite inspectorate measures
Dozens of unreported car dumps uncovered in the Cartomb investigation were presented to the environmental inspectorate. Their responses show that they were already aware of most of the locations. Despite the inspectorate’s good level of information, monitoring and sanctioning systems are ineffective and slow, while inadequate legislation allows loopholes and abuse.
The owner of an unreported car dump invests in real estate in Croatia
The owner of an unreported car dump invests in real estate in Croatia
The company Daras in the Gorenjska region collects and dismantles cars and sells automotive parts without an environmental permit. The same parts are also sold in Croatia, where the owner of Daras operates another company. That company owns two villas in Vodnjan, and a member of its management board is the son of former Slovene prime minister Janez Rop.
Photo: Oštro
How the map of unreported end-of-life vehicle dumps was created
We identified and analyzed more than 50 media reports on unreported car dumps and gathered tips from readers as well as from the Ecologists without borders registry of illegal dumping sites.
We then spent months searching the web and publicly available satellite imagery in Google Earth Pro and Google Maps Street View and even attempted to develop an artificial intelligence tool to help verify locations.
Finally, we spent several days conducting fieldwork at sites across Slovenia, from Murska Sobota to Koper and from Bohinjska Bistrica to Krško.