TIRANA, June 29 – 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.
“Next year on World Environment Day, Tirana will be a city where the use of plastic bags will be banned,” said Tirana Mayor ErionVeliaj at an awareness event branded “Less plastic bags more wild life.”
“We will start working gradually so that by June 5 [next year] by introducing the concept of multi-purpose shopping bags, we will reduce to a minimum our addiction to use plastic bags,” said Veliaj.
The mayor says plastic bags, which commonly block sewerage and manholes in Tirana, are one of the main causes of flash floods in the capital.
“We have to understand that this has a harmful effect not only to the environment and the ecosystem as plastic does not dissolve but even other city issues such as floods,” said Veliaj.
UN Resident Coordinator to Albania Brian Williams urged Albanian consumers and policy-makers to think more about sustainable consumption. “Responsible production and consumption is one of the sustainable development goals which we are all working to accomplish in the next 15 years,” said Williams.
The funds collected from this campaign will go to an environmental organization targeting to plant 1 million trees nationwide.
While several countries have imposed extra fees on plastic bags, it is unclear how the municipality of Tirana will finalize this initiative.
Its awareness projects targets providing supermarket customers with reusable eco-friendly bags.
The introduction of mass consumption in the past two decades of Albania’s transition to a market economy has also lead to an enormous increase in consumer waste, including plastic bags and other wrapping material. Very often this plastic ends up in the environment, polluting streets, rivers and the countryside across the country, says the UN office in Albania.
