Albanian Government Council of Ministers

No intervention was made in the school “Stavri Themelko” in Korce, since it was build in 1964, to bring it up to contemporary standards of teaching. The school was thoroughly reconstructed after 5 decades with a funding of 50 million ALL. Prime Minister Edi Rama, accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Niko Peleshi and Mayor Sotiraq Filo, visited it today.

The Club of Ecologists or ECO-CLUB is a student initiative launched 3 years ago to raise awareness starting since an early age, on environment protection through reducing, reusing and recycling waste. The school is part of the program for waste separation and recycling, a program extended to all schools in the city. Coloured bins have been placed on every floor of the school, for waste separation at source of plastic, glass, paper and organic waste. The Prime Minister attended a class, by them labelled “the green hour”, where the students explained the idea, the challenges and the findings of a study on waste recycling conducted by them.

“In addition to the great importance of recycling, our research has shown that if we manage to recycle 1000 kg of waste, we will be able to save 17 trees, save enough energy for 6 months, eliminate 3 cubic meters of inert materials, save 31.780 litres of water, generate 75% less air pollution, 57% of the energy required to produce 1 ton of fibre, therefore, not to use the materials and the resources we have, but produce with what we have something new, and reduce water pollution by 90%. In addition to recycling, there is reduction and reuse, which together make the three Rs closely connected to each other”, one of the students and member of the ECO-CLUB explained the findings.

Prime Minister Rama urged young people to further advance their idea and turn it into action, by extending it in every neighbourhood of the city.

“You should share in the city this experience that you have created in your oasis. The Municipality will finance you for awareness raising publicity materials, for the various actions in various neighbourhoods of the city, so that you can provide concrete help to the neighbourhood to start doing waste separation at source”, the Prime Minister said.

The reconstruction of school has included all indoor and outdoor facilities of the building, the renovation of the gym and of the courtyard. The school has also been equipped with a central heating system.

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One of the most important investments in the region of Korca is being concluded in Maliq, for the waste collection and processing, the landfill and the urban waste disposal.

“We are completing the first cell where waste will be disposed, the remaining part of waste in the region of Korca. There is a total of approximately 7 hectares, and we think that this is a very important project for cleaning the district of Korca”, Gëzim Topçiu, Mayor of Maliq said.

The Prime Minister noted that a strengthened recycling process means redoubling or trebling the landfill capacity. “The Mafia is not interested in recycling, because you know very well that the landfill is paid for every ton of waste that comes here. You’re the shareholding company of municipalities, therefore you get paid among themselves, whereas when the landfill is owned by privates, every ton is taken and processed here, or buried here for a fee. If some waste is recycled, then there will be less tons coming here, and less money generated from landfill. And the landfill will last longer.”

The Prime Minister also met with some waste recyclers. They highlighted the challenges that the recycling industry is facing today due to raw material. “The company has stopped the production activity because it cannot be supplied. There are approximately 120 tons that can be absorbed per month by our industry. Since the county area was small, we relied on imports. During this time we were forced to close the doors of the company. 40 employees working here are unemployed today. They are waiting for us to conclude the investments “, one of the recyclers said.

The Prime Minister pointed out the strategy to raise public awareness on waste separation at source will be launched. “Once this is concluded, another problem in terms of organization will be solved. We solved this issue in Elbasan, it is solved in Korçe, while Tirana has entered a thoroughly revolutionary process thanks to the joint public company between the Municipalities of Tirana and Verona, which will intensively start the differentiation of waste at source. The strategy aims at raising awareness on waste separation, since an early age, starting with schools and then in the neighbourhoods, and by strongly promoting recycling we aim at reducing the quantity of tons going in the fields.”

 

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