BIRN journalist Blerina Gjoka, invited to the show "The Unexposed" on MCN TV, has raised the alarm over a serious environmental scandal related to the metallurgical company "Kurum". According to her, this company has exported around 20 thousand tons of hazardous waste, but it is still unknown where it has ended up.
"The waste has been delivered to Porto Romano and the Durrës prosecution is dealing with this issue. All the fuss was made about 1,800 tons, for 110 containers. But BIRN discovered that Kurum had exported 20,000 tons of hazardous waste. Since 2020, when the filters were installed, hazardous waste was collected and zinc oxide is such waste. BIRN discovered the request of the Kurum company to the Ministry of Environment to export zinc oxide. The ministry did not approve the request, without giving a reason. Kurum produces about 8,000 tons of hazardous waste per year," said Gjoka. The journalist emphasized that "Kurum" then sold this waste to the "Sokolaj" company to export it, but without specifying the final destination of the 20,000 tons of hazardous waste. "We do not know where this waste went, whether it was buried in Albania or dumped into the sea," she said.
According to Gjoka, a company like Kurum should have a type A environmental permit, but for a period of 4 years no state control has been carried out, leaving its activity free. The first full control of the company took place only in September 2024, when the scandal of waste dumped into the sea broke out. It was during this control, according to her, that it was discovered that several transfers had been made with the company "Sokolaj".
"Such a large company cannot operate outside of standards and without monitoring. The fact that there has been no control for 4 years clearly shows that the state has let it do whatever it wants," concluded journalist Blerina Gjoka.
