TIRANA, July 25 – Only about two thirds of the country’s 2.9 million resident population has access to public waste treatment and disposal services, making waste management one of the key issues of concern for local communities and hundreds of thousands of tourists visiting Albania.
The 60 percent coverage rate in 2015 slightly deteriorated by 3 percent compared to 2014 after Albania’s resident population is estimated to have contracted by about 107,000 people last year when it was negatively affected by an asylum exodus mainly to Germany, according to INSTAT, the state statistical office.
A territorial and administrative reform that cut the country’s local government units to 61 municipalities from a previous 373 municipalities and communes also seems to have had a small impact, although its effects on waste management will be more evident starting 2016. Local government units handle about three quarters of waste management.
Back in 2013, only slightly more than half of the country’s resident population, some 52 percent, had access to public waste management services.
The INSTAT report shows the amount of municipal waste generated per person in Albania has followed a rising trend in the past three years contrary to the EU where the generation of municipal waste per person has constantly decreased since 2007 following waste reduction measures, including cutting use of plastic bags.
The amount of municipal waste generated by Albanians rose to 396 kg/person in 2015, up from 355 kg in 2014 and 321 kg in 2013.
Organic waste accounted for the majority 51.4 percent of municipal waste in 2015 followed by paper waste with 9.6 percent, plastic waste with 9.6 percent, solid waste with 8.2 percent and metal and wood waste with 9.5 percent.
However, the construction of several new landfills has considerably improved waste management services in the past three years.
Some 69 percent of municipal waste is landfilled, about a quarter is recycled, 2.5 percent is incinerated and 2 percent is still dumped.
The report shows back in 2013, some 16.6 percent of municipal waste was dumped illegally, being a major pollution source.
With waste recycling at almost a standstill following a 2013 ban on waste imports, several ruling Socialist Party MPs have proposed lifting a ban on waste imports in a bid to give a boost to the ailing recycling industry which has seen a cut in investment and jobs since the late 2013 government decision.
The amendments to the integrated waste management law target reintroducing imports of non-hazardous waste to help one of the key industries in the country recover.
“The ban of imports led the recycling industry to cut its capacity utilization rate to 30 percent, incurring huge losses and cutting jobs. Investments in this sector which employs 35,000 people are estimated at Euro 120 million,” say a report accompanying the proposed changes to the law, also signed by Eduard Shalsi, a ruling Socialist Party MP, who chairs the productive activities and environment parliamentary committee.
The ban of waste imports was one of the first three decisions the new Socialist Party-led government made in mid-September 2013 immediately after swearing-in, making unnecessary a referendum initiated by the Alliance Against Waste Imports, AKIP.
Given the fact that there are no appropriate municipal waste separation systems, companies are forced to rely on the informal sector, which is currently taking out thousands of tons of recycling waste from municipal landfills and dumpsites, solving Albania`s problem of landfills filling up, the UN says. This informal sector which currently includes 10,000 to 40,000 self-employed individuals and their families. The recycling industry itself directly employs 3,000 workers.
With almost every item sold coming with a free plastic bag in the whole of Albania, Tirana is targeting to become the first Balkan capital city to stop the use of plastic bags in supermarkets.
Mayor Erion Veliaj says plastic bags, which commonly block sewerage and manholes in Tirana, are one of the main causes of flash floods in the capital.
Several EU member countries have already introduced plastic bag charges in an effort to minimize its impact on the environment, reduce litter and protect wildlife.
