Referendum expected on waste law

TIRANA – A group of activists have started to collect 50,000 signatures for a referendum against government plans to allow waste imports in Albania. The group, named the Alliance Against Waste Imports, has gathered personalities of different spheres who have united against turning the country into a waste land. A law passed in November, only with the governing Democratic Party-led majority in parliament, allows import of integrated waste management, the import of non-hazardous waste into Albania for recycling purposes.
Activists and other people have expressed their concern that after opening the door to trash imports Albania will become Europe’s landfill. The tiny western Balkan country has not only a lack of the proper checking facilities at the border crossing points for dangerous chemical and nuclear items, but it also has a weak administration, government, a corrupt one in many layers that would not be a guarantee against any illegal traffic.
A poll made public Wednesday and held by a non-governmental organization said that more than 80 percent of the questioned people were aware what the new law meant and they were against it.
It will not be easy for the group to collect 50,000 signatures and also to further the process toward holding a referendum on the issue. They may face a serious challenge by the Central Election Commission, that may require copies of the identity cards of all the persons who signed the referendum request and more like that. But the initiative is a good one to be followed in Albania too. They have already said they will open four offices in capital Tirana, where citizens can stop and sign the petition for the referendum.
Keeping Albania clean and green, as the government says itself, is not only a top priority along the country’s efforts and attempts to become one day a member of the European Union, but it is also a top request to the government and all the authorities and a priority for the people themselves.