The waste field near the decommissioned incinerator was engulfed in flames for the umpteenth time at noon on July 1, 2025.
Thousands of local residents lived in panic for more than a week as the flames spread rapidly.
Despite the intervention, the institutions had no clear plan for the protection of citizens. Neither the Environmental Inspectorate, nor the Regional Directorate, nor the National Environmental Agency published a report on the pollution. Only a week after the fire, the Minister of Defense, Pirro Vengu, stated that measurements showed high levels of carbon dioxide only inside the landfill and not in residential areas.
But independent measurements by the COPLAN organization showed that levels of NO₂, CO₂, methane, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and PM2.5/PM10 particles were many times above EU norms, especially putting people with chronic respiratory diseases at risk.
Just a few weeks before the fire, on May 26, 2025, the Elbasan Municipal Council increased the fee for waste disposal from 2,500 lek to 2,600 lek/ton. Mayor Gledian Llatja argued that the increase was related to landfill costs, but not to the incinerator, which “is under repair and is not functioning.”
Experts warn that these financial decisions have no impact on the safety of citizens. In addition to air pollution, the fires also threaten the soil, groundwater and the food chain.
Lawsuit about health and air
An ordinary July day turned into a nightmare for 63-year-old Fatmira Sejrani. Diagnosed with severe bronchial asthma, for which she also receives a disability pension from the Municipality of Elbasan, Fatmira experienced extraordinary difficulty breathing when the waste field near the city's incinerator was engulfed in flames and a thick cloud of toxic smoke covered the neighborhood where she lives.
"Those days when the urban waste was burned in the Municipality of Elbasan, I felt very bad. I used the pump 6 times a day, because I couldn't breathe. But from the frequent use of the pump, my blood pressure rose to 20" - the 63-year-old confides.
Fatmira went to the Elbasan Court, where in her lawsuit for the worsening of her health condition, she saw the Municipality of Elbasan as the cause, which had not taken any measures to secure the waste, but also the company that manages the landfill and incinerator, "Eco-Elb".
Four months after the filing of the lawsuit, the Elbasan court declared incompetence and referred the case to the first instance administrative court in Tirana.
Lawyer Gentian Sejrani claims that this is the first civil lawsuit in the country, where a citizen seeks justice for the consequences of environmental damage.
"To date, there has been no lawsuit to hold accountable the institutions that pollute the environment and, in this specific case, the Eco-Elb company or even the Municipality of Elbasan. Together with Fatmira, he went to court with the aim of creating a precedent," says lawyer Sejrani.
Fatmira is not the only resident of the area facing respiratory illnesses as a result of high levels of pollution caused by frequent fires in the Elbasan landfill.
Rruzhdie Fraholli says that the land and air have been poisoned and living has become impossible:
"I came from the villages of Korça to Elbasan for a better life, but here we found polluted air. Even the land no longer produces anything, as it has been poisoned by the smoke from the incinerator. Above all, we fear for our lives, because the air is polluted, but so is the food," the woman claims, worried.
The Environmental Inspectorate, the Regional Directorate and the National Environmental Agency have not yet published a report on the pollution caused by the burning of a mountain of waste at the Elbasan landfill for about a week.
Just a week after the fire, Defense Minister Pirro Vengu stated that measurements showed high levels of carbon dioxide only inside the landfill and not in residential areas.
But independent measurements by the COPLAN organization showed alarming levels of harmful gases and fine particles, many times above EU norms.
"Alarming levels of NO₂, CO₂, methane, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and PM2.5/PM10 particles were found, with serious health consequences, especially for people with chronic respiratory diseases," the organization's findings suggest.
According to experts, fires near urban waste dumps are dangerous because they simultaneously pollute the air, the environment and groundwater. Ahmet Mehmeti emphasizes that the level of pollution in these areas is many times above the permitted levels.
"There are heavy metals, such as chromium, nickel, copper, lead, cadmium, that end up in humans and animals. All of these pass into the human body and the consequences are serious. Diseases that come from pollution are mainly cancerous, but also genetic," emphasizes the environmentalist, according to whom half a million inhabitants are affected by environmental pollution.
Polluted soil and water endanger the food chain. Agricultural products are rejected by international markets, cultural tourism is damaged, and Elbasan is now a "hotspot" for pollution.
Despite repeated warnings, residents' complaints about air pollution and the dangers from the landfill and incinerator have fallen on deaf ears for years.
"We have appealed to the Prime Minister and the Municipality several times, but so far nothing has been done," says Rruzhdie Fraholli, a resident of Katund i Ri.
Until the publication of this article, “shteg.org” did not receive any response from local and national institutions. Only after the massive fire of July 1, 2025, did the Elbasan Prosecutor's Office register criminal proceedings for “Abuse of duty” and “Environmental pollution”. The investigations were not initiated due to complaints from citizens, but only after the incident that endangered thousands of lives.
Fire, trash and money
It seems that episodes of fires in the landfill have become routine. The Elbasan Prosecutor's Office has opened several investigations after the events of 2023, 2024 and 2025. Initially, the investigation was registered for the criminal offenses of "destruction of property by fire" and "air pollution", articles 201 and 248. It was later expanded to include charges of "abuse of office" and "passive corruption".
When the investigation team visited the public company "Eco-Elb" on March 6, 2025 to verify a fire that occurred in November 2024, the lack of electricity prevented the control of the incinerator, making it impossible to test its operation.
The investigation of July 1, 2025 was registered as a proceeding without an author and was merged with the proceeding of November 2024. The Elbasan Police confirmed that from "the verification carried out regarding the fire of 01.07.2025, it results that criminal proceedings have been registered for the criminal offenses provided for by articles 201 and 248 of the Criminal Code" - and this proceeding is in the investigation phase.
Three weeks after the fire, on July 21, the police and the prosecution searched 14 apartments of people connected to the incinerator and the raids were carried out within the framework of criminal proceedings no. 1417, of 2024, which was initially registered for arson.
However, despite the volume of the file and the checks, there was no specific name placed before the responsibility.
"Due to the procedural moment in which the investigation is at, we cannot provide further information," the Elbasan Prosecution Office told "shteg.org", while the Police confirmed that the case has been referred for investigation without providing details about the preliminary conclusions.
Among the apartments searched is that of the administrator of the public landfill company in Elbasan, "Eco-Elb", Leli Kaja, as well as the legal and finance directors from the 8 municipalities, who are suspected of having had an active role in institutional and financial relations with the company that manages urban waste.
On May 26, 2025, just a few weeks before the fire, the Elbasan Municipal Council increased the fee for waste disposal from 2,500 lek to 2,600 lek/ton. Mayor Gledian Llatja argued that the increase was related to landfill costs, but not to the incinerator, which “is under repair and is not functioning.”
Since 2021, the waste treatment area in Elbasan has been managed by the public company Eco-Elb, which took it over through a lease contract from the Sequestered and Confiscated Assets Administration Agency. But the public company has been unable to get the incinerator up and running, while the mountain of garbage in the nearby landfill continues to grow.
In March 2015, near the former metallurgical plant in Elbasan, works began on Albania's first incinerator, a plant that aimed to process urban waste and produce electricity from its combustion process.
The government presented the project as a solution to the collection and disposal of waste, which for decades had filled the city and posed a threat to the environment, by turning it into a green energy source with a planned capacity of 17,250 MWh per year. The project cost 26 million euros and was considered the foundation of a major environmental transformation in Albania.
On April 18, 2017, the incinerator was inaugurated with pomp, in the presence of the prime minister and senior officials, being presented as a step towards European standards.
The Elbasan incinerator is the only completed plant out of three costly public-private partnership contracts of the Albanian government, investigated for corruption and money laundering by the Special Prosecution Office (SPAK). Senior officials, including the former Minister of Environment, have been found guilty of abuses of these contracts.
The government promised that waste that was previously burned openly and poisoned the city would be used to produce energy, reducing pollution and bringing economic and environmental benefits.
Prime Minister Rama described the urban waste problem for the city as a "20-year tumor", but that this project establishes a new model for their treatment throughout the country.
"I am very proud that this large tumor of cancer, which for 20 or so years has been overwhelming the organism of the entire Elbasan area and became a major, vital problem for all residents of the area due to catastrophic pollution generated by the terrible garbage field, is today in the phase of a radical healing operation, with a technology that is being introduced for the first time in Albania," Prime Minister Rama would declare in March 2015.
Today, 10 years later, the same environmental emergency is in Elbasan. Heavy vehicles continue to transport tons of waste to the landfill. It is obvious to the naked eye that the fire of July 1 has temporarily reduced the volume of the waste pile, but it is inevitable that that "mountain" will not grow again and no one can guarantee that another fire will not occur./Shteg.org/
