Completely on the roadside, 102 containers carrying 2,800 tons of certified hazardous toxic waste have found a new home, next to food warehouses and buildings erected for the residents of Durrës, affected by the tragic earthquake of 2019.
After more than a year of staying in the village of Rinia in Porto Romano, the remains were moved on March 29 to the village of Vrinë in the Shën Avlash Administrative Unit.
"They should be removed as soon as possible, they are not for residential areas. The municipality or those who
brought them should find a place for them to be placed in uninhabited areas," Bardhyl Zoto tells Faktoje.al.
"They should be removed as soon as possible, they are not for residential areas. The municipality or those who brought them should find a place for them to be placed in uninhabited areas," Bardhyl Zoto, who has been living in an apartment built for residents affected by the earthquake for eight months, tells Faktoje.al.
The waste is visible to the naked eye, separated by the road and a swampy canal from the containers that pose a danger right there.
Day after day, the building complex is becoming more populated as the entire construction phase has been completed, the entrances have also been distributed, and what they will find in this well-structured complex will be toxic waste, right there, to coexist indefinitely.
From the village of Rinia, "tour" to Vrina
Residents of the village of "Rinia" held several protests and demanded the removal of hazardous waste, and recently, since March of this year, the waste has been moved "for safety", to a newly inhabited area, on the side of the road connecting Shën Avlash with Porto Romano and Durrës, and equally close to the complex of buildings where all the citizens whose homes were destroyed by the earthquake of November 26, 2019 are living and are expected to live.
"The material in the packaging collected in storage is classified as highly toxic, it must be removed as soon as possible to safe places," says Ahmeti.
In a previous statement for Faktoje.al, chemical engineer Ahmet Ahmeti affirmed the hazardous nature of waste and suggested its removal from residential areas. “The material in the packaging collected in storage is classified as highly toxic, it should be removed as soon as possible to safe places,” says Ahmeti. He suggests that strict rules are needed for the waste disposal process to avoid potential disasters that endanger the environment, groundwater, soil, air, and human and animal health. “They contain zinc, cadmium, lead, copper, chromium, nickel, etc., heavy metals with dangerous consequences that cause diseases in all tissues of the body, including cancerous and genetic ones,” says Ahmeti.
Institutional silence
At a press conference on February 10 of this year, Environment Minister Sofjan Jaupaj said that for toxic waste, the possibility of transporting it to other countries that process it will be examined, or the possibility of destroying it in our country will also be examined, in accordance with the protocols for the destruction of this type of waste.
Faktoje.al requested information from the Ministry of Environment and the National Environmental Agency on what will be done with the certified toxic waste and whether our country has the capacity to dispose of it (without impacting the environment) or whether there are concrete attempts to conclude contracts with certified foreign entities for the processing of this waste?! Both institutions refused to respond, while after a complaint to the Commissioner for the Right to Information, the ministry considered that in this case "the right to information is limited", since according to it, the matter is under investigation and judicial proceedings.
Danger on the doorstep
The ordeal of 2,800 tons of toxic waste began in August of last year when the international environmental organization "Basel Action Network" raised concerns that tons of hazardous waste were hidden on the ship "Molivia" that departed from Albania on July 4, 2024 via the Port of Durres.
No country accepted the docking of the waste in their ports, returning it to the Port of Durres on October 28, 2024. Since then, the 102 containers have been placed in Porto Romano, near the village of Rinia, no further than 200 meters from residential areas. The Durres Prosecutor's Office, after a long investigation, announced that laboratory tests conducted in Italy revealed that "the waste contained toxic elements that pose a risk to human health and the environment, especially aquatic ecosystems." After the examination, the Durres Prosecutor's Office concluded that "we are not simply facing a criminal act, but a chain of illegal actions that bring serious consequences in several areas such as the environment, health, customs activity, the activity of the authorities for safety and environmental quality."
She issued 33 arrest warrants, of which only eight are currently in prison and the rest are under investigation, free or under obligation to appear. While the criminal process continues, no solution has been offered for 2,800 tons of hazardous waste making "round trips" from one village to another, always near residential areas. This time, those who suffered the consequences of the 2019 earthquake risk having a direct impact. /Faktoje.al/
