Building incinerators not the way to solve Albania’s pollution problem: DP’s Jamarber Malltezi

The 200m-euro investment to build incinerators will not solve the pollution situation created by waste in Albania.

This was the comment that the head of Environment Department at the Democratic Party Jamarber Malltezi made for SCAN Television.

According to Malltezi, the only solution to avoid high levels of pollution is the implementation of the waste management law and strategy.

Malltezi claims that the priorities of the law and strategy are being neglected, passing directly to incineration, which not only raises the financial burden of waste treatment, but can also have severe consequences for the health of citizens.

“It’s a practice that happens, but, however, either from our waste strategy, or from the European Waste Treatment Strategy, it [incineration] is the ultimate link to be followed. So we have to start by reducing, recovering and recycling, then we can we pass on to the energy recovery, including incinerators, and the last one, landfill. We give no funding for the first three links that should be the main focus according to the Albanian law, according to the EU directive, and according to waste strategy and hierarchy as well.

“The three first links receive no funding, while the last link gets some 200 million euros,” said Jamarber Malltezi, head of Environment Department at the DP, an Albanian-style shadow environment minister.

Malltezi underlined the need to build small landfills at a time when currently there are only three according to standards.

“We need small landfills; the only thing that must be respected is the waste strategy, and we have to observe EU standards. We have to be serious in our path to the EU,” Malltezi said.

Malltezi said that the cleaning operation in Albania, an initiative undertaken by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism that is slated to last 6 months, is an important step in raising environmental consciousness among Albanians.

SCAN

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