TIRANA, Sept. 22 – Albania’s ruling majority has approved a deeply unpopular bill to import trash from other countries, bowing down to the recycling industry and going back on a promise made to voters ahead of the general elections three years ago.
Prime Minister Edi Rama told parliament Thursday he now believes Albania has the ability to control the type of trash that comes in and that the new law was needed to help the recycling industry stay in business.
The decision was met with a spate of protests by environmental activists and outrage on social media. A protest was held outside the parliament Thursday, and civil society activists clashed with the police.
Some of protesters attempted to push garbage bins inside the parliament building. Environmentalists say that the poor Balkan country is already buried under its own trash and it did not need any more.
Government officials say the bill aims to provide support to the struggling recycling industry and that only garbage on the so-called “green list” that does not include organic waste will be imported into Albania for recycling.
According to the 1992 Basel Convention on the movement and disposal of hazardous waste, the “green list” includes 55 types of garbage from agricultural industry discharge to metal, glass, leather and plastics.
In addition, the bill aims to establish two or three special border points that will be used for the entrance of the first waste products that will be then be recycled.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Edi Rama told lawmakers that the bill on waste imports had been amended to provide more guarantees and safety, unlike the previous draft initiated by the previous administration.
“The bill encourages the development of an industry that needs to import waste that is listed in the green list,” Rama said. “If we do not go ahead with it, then the recycling industry will go bankrupt and about 1,200 people would be unemployed,” Rama said, adding that the bill is in line with European Union directives and that Albania is equipped with recycling factories certified by the European Union. According to Rama, the government plans to scrap the 50 lek/kg tax for plastic waste but it will keep the 100 lek/kg tax for waste from abroad.
A lawmaker with the ruling coalition, Besnik Bare, explained that the government has the capacity to “analyze and control all imported waste as well as introduce penalties to those who violate the law.”
Bare added that a recommendation made by the junior ruling coalition party, Socialist Movement for Integration, would be included. It gives civil society the right to have some oversight in the import process.
Meanwhile, Democratic Party MP Jorida Tabaku accused the government of violating its promises made while in opposition.
“These politicians, who once opposed the bill, should have been doing the same today as well. Yesterday’s ‘No’ should have been a stronger one today,” Tabaku said. “If they had any political morals … the colleagues who have proposed this bill should be out there with the protesters.”
The bill also faced critical voices within the ruling majority, with maverick Socialist MP Ben Blushi saying the prime minister was simply looking out for the private interests of businessmen and not following the people’s will.
Environmentalists protesting outside parliament said they would not stop until a referendum allowed people to vote on waste imports.
“This is just the beginning of our efforts,” said Lavdosh Ferruni, a leader in the protest.
This is not the first time Albania has had a debate on waste imports. A plan was first put in motion in 2004 by the former Socialist government and aimed to import million tones of Italian garbage for processing and incineration. The initiative sparked protests by business owners and coalition of civil society groups.
The plan was dropped until November 2011 when the Democratic Party-led government of the time passed a legislation allowing imports of waste from abroad, cutting the original list of waste items allowed for import from 400 to 50 under pressure from environmentalists.
The bill allowed the import of non-radioactive waste for destruction or recycling whilst activists voiced their concerns that the government can’t be trusted to track the imported garbage.
A group of intellectuals and environmental activists also condemned the law and demanded a referendum on the issue, arguing that the move would turn Albania into the trash bin of Europe. They were able to secure the right for a referendum — the first ever grassroots referendum approved in Albania.
However, the referendum never took place, as in October 2013, the Socialist-led government officially banned waste imports, an electoral campaign promise. This week they negated on that promise, saying things had changed in Albania, infuriating environmentalists and many Albanians who don’t want waste imports.
Albania signed the Basel Convention on the Control of Trans-boundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal on June 22, 1999.
The convention aims to reduce the movements of hazardous waste between nations, and, to curb the transfer of hazardous waste from developed to less developed countries. Article 13, paragraph 3 of the convention also obliges “nations to submit information on all trans-boundary movements of hazardous wastes or other forms of waste in which they have been involved on an annual basis.”
