MARKETING CONTRIBUTION TO THE ADAPTATION OF THE EU STANDARDS IN THE FIELD OF ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION AND WASTE MANAGEMENT

Global market and fast pace of changes fueled by the constant advancement of technology faces marketing with a new challenge. In recent two decades the present problem of ecology and waste management have resulted with the more restrictive legal framework
and emergence of ecologically conscious – “green consumers”. Most of the domestic companies consider ecological legislature and measures for waste management as an additional operating cost. Examples show that some of the organizations that apply additional
standards of environmental concern create an additional value through the creation of the “green products”. At the same time those organizations are saving on costs of packaging and through concepts such as reuse and recycling create larger profi ts. In the Republic of
Croatia, waste management situation is very serious, while terms of membership for the European Union and legislature within the Union are very detailed and abiding. In order to increase ecological conscience and greater involvement of domestic companies in dealing with the problem of environmental protection, the authors suggest applying the so called co-opetative marketing model, through creation of co-operative networks in which every participant –organization, regardless of competitive position on the market, invests part of it’s available internal resources in creating greater, mutual benefit, or value for all participants in the chain. For better understanding of this paper it is important to note that authors are focusing on only one of many aspects and approaches to this “local-global” problem.