The urban waste dumpsite in the area of Porto Romano in the city of Durres has for years become an hotbed of environmental emergency, a source of pollution with irreparable damage to land and to the health of population.

Its location, once away from the residential areas, has been now moved closer to them as the city keeps on expanding, making its existence even more alarming.

Prime Minister Edi Rama, accompanied by the Minister of Tourism and Environment Blendi Klosi, and the Mayor of Durres Vangjush Dako, visited the area to closely inspect the situation, which is getting worrisome for the local citizens.

Tourism and Environment Minister explained that large amounts of plastic bag shards and pieces scattered all around are becoming the most serious and unmanageable environmental issue. A special government decision banning the use of single use and non-degradable plastic bags has been lauded by the environmentalists and the environment experts. “Plastic shards and pieces can be randomly found in all urban waste disposal sites, either in landfills of big cities or small towns and villages. Plastic bags are what remains and makes the waste management almost impossible. These bags contain elements that it takes over 100 years broken down by natural processes and create an absolutely an unpleasant situation. The new government decision will ban the use of all single use plastic bags to allow for the use of plastic shopping bags with a thickness over 35 microns and which are biodegradable and can be reusable. However, following the round-table discussions with the entire community of environmentalists, but also considering the experts’ opinion, this decision, which would lead to the removal of plastic bags in our country, would be a very welcome decision, as it actually removes one of the causes polluting Albania.”

To Mayor of Durres, Vangjush Dako, the fact that this environmental catastrophe is becoming part of the day-to-day life of the citizens residing in the surrounding area is really disturbing and worrisome. “The volume of wastes and garbage has increased. The area used to be away from the residential areas, but with the informal buildings and the city keeping on expanding, the waste dumpsite is now nearer to the urban area,” Dako said.

Prime Minister Edi Rama stated that implementation of a joint project with the Municipality of Durres to close the landfill site and transform it into a great ecological park and a public recreational space in the city of Durres is the only solution to put an end to the existence of this area for good. The Premier also underlined that banning the use of plastic bags has become indispensable, emphasising that urgent measures should be adopted to tackle the situation.

“For 30 years now, this area resembles to the Apocalypse Now movie settings. What we should do is to press ahead with the collaboration process we have already launched to close this landfill site and transform it into a big recreational space for the city and transport the urban waste to the landfill in Tirana, after calculating first the cost that should be affordable. Meanwhile, it is apparent that a similar but unacceptable situation regarding the pollution from plastic bags exists all over Albania. But such a situation won’t change for many years to come since it seems that the idea for the citizens to raise their awareness and adopt a patriotic approach to the environment by each providing a contribution to sort the waste and instead of a pollutant become a contributor to a cleaner environment remains still an utopia, which won’t produce desired results should we fail in adopting radical measures.

Therefore, we should mull over a moratorium on the use of plastic bags without wasting time and make Albania not only a country that bans their use, but also bans their import. So, anyone entering Albania should know in advance – as they do when entering other countries, which have already ushered in this new era of the human civilization – that no plastic bags can be smuggled via airports, ports, or border points by cars because you will be penalized. So everyone should get rid of plastic bags prior to entering the territory of the Republic of Albania. This is the only way to break from this past and people will then be unable to pollute the environment as they are doing right now. This is a catastrophe. Such materials need not 100, but 1000 years to degrade and the contamination and damages they cause to the underground water, the land and the health are irreparable.

We owe it to the children who are born and brought up here in Albania to put an end to such a legacy. This of course comes at a price. Of course costs are high and it is not a coincidence that the more developed the country the cleaner it is and the less developed the country, the more polluted but at the end of the day, Albania is not polluted in terms of organic pollution because of the polluting industries. Albania is polluted because of the dirt that people cause and who do not care at all when such dirt remains outside the walls of their own homes.