He called on citizens to be reasonable and the city government to finally and systematically start tackling the waste management issue in Zagreb.

"Those responsible in the City of Zagreb, with Mayor Milan Bandic at the helm, must finally start taking responsibility for waste management instead of shifting the responsibility to others," Zmajlovic told reporters when asked if he would help defuse the situation in Jakusevac.

He said the ministry had always been willing to cooperate, that the necessary laws existed and that Zagreb must start building a waste processing facility.

The minister said nothing had been done about waste management in Zagreb in the last decade.

He called on citizens to respond sensibly, saying the issue could not be solved overnight or with barricades.

He said the government was thinking about imposing an ecology rent through the new waste act but added that this was only one of the possible solutions.

After a night-long blockade, about 70 waste trucks remain parked outside the Jakusevac landfill. Local residents say they will stay there until their demands are met.

"We are not interested in money, we are not interested in the ecology rent. We want the removal of the composting plant which spreads an unbearable stench and the construction waste disposal unit which fills our houses with dust," said protester Marijan Bedekovic.

Local official Ivica Barukcic said they wanted "the landfill to be given special status and not to be treated under the new law because it was built in contravention of every regulation and law. This is a huge ecological bomb threatening our residents for 40 years."

He said Mayor Bandic had said the dump would be closed by 2018.

The spokesman for the Cistoca waste disposal company, Vinko Vucic, said garbage would stay in the households until their trucks were let through and that Cistoca waited for a solution so that it could collect the amassed garbage.