Raporti: Bashkitë dështojnë me mbetjet, kostot janë rritur, shëndeti i popullatës në rrezik

2024-07-31 07:17:00, Aktualitet CNA

Raporti: Bashkitë dështojnë me mbetjet, kostot janë rritur,

Illustrative photo

For the third year in a row, waste in the city of Vlora is set on fire in the middle of the tourist season, spoiling not only the image of a tourist town but above all endangering the lives of the population in this region.

The problem of waste, despite the hundreds of millions of euros spent on incinerators or projects and campaigns at the source, remains unsolved.

A report of the High State Control with the object "Respecting the standards in the management of urban waste, a sustainable challenge in reducing environmental pollution and protecting the health of the population" comes to the conclusion that the municipalities have not managed to improve the situation, despite their costs have increased in this regard.

There are four municipalities that have been analyzed: Durrës, Vlora, Shkodra and Korça, where the most problematic situation appears in the first two.

According to the report, the Municipality of Durrës, during the management of urban waste, does not guarantee the financial sustainability of this process, since the income generated for this purpose does not manage to cover the expenses.

"This situation comes as a result of the fact that the Municipality of Durrës has not managed to collect all the planned revenues from the cleaning fee. However, even if they were to be collected at the 100% level, it would still not be possible to cover the total expenses for the management of urban waste in this municipality.

The main reason for not covering the expenses is the change of their storage location in the Sharra landfill. This has significantly increased the weight of waste management in the total budget of the municipality. About 1/3 or about 30% of the budget of the Municipality of Durrës goes to the management of urban waste, while referring to the United Nations, this indicator should be at the levels of 3-15%, says the report.

Regarding the Municipality of Vlora, the report draws attention to the health consequences of failure in waste management.

"Urban waste management in the Municipality of Vlora presents other and more serious problems. In this municipality, urban waste is deposited in a landfill, which does not respect any environmental criteria.

Urban waste is burned in the open environment, causing important health and environmental problems, resulting from the release of dioxins and furans in the environment.

Exposure to dioxins, furans, etc., causes various types of cancer, liver problems, damage to the immune system, the endocrine system and reproductive functions, as well as negative effects on the development of the nervous system," says the KLSH report.

The report estimates that such a situation with waste in Vlora has also brought economic consequences, influencing the devaluation of properties near the field of the urban waste disposal site in the city of Vlora.

KLSH estimates that even when it comes to the calculation of the cleaning fee, the municipalities subject to the audit do not take into consideration the size of the family and the area on which the family lives. Even for the tariffs set for the business, they do not take into consideration the area on which the business exercises its activity.

Taking into consideration the size of the family, as well as the area of ??residence and the exercise of the activity (in the case of businesses) would make the fee that each subscriber will have to pay more fair.

"Regarding the implementation of policies and the legal framework in force, the municipalities of Durrës, Shkodër, Vlorë and Korçë have not implemented the legal obligations related to the Strategic Environmental Assessment process, since they have not accompanied the Local Urban Waste Management Plans with the EIA.

Also, they have not reported periodically to the District Councils on the implementation of local plans, they have not achieved the objectives on the differentiated collection of organic waste for composting purposes as well as the recycling of paper, cardboard, glass and plastic.

For all the above issues, recommendations have been made in terms of improving the causes that lead to these deficiencies in order to eliminate and mitigate the negative impacts that these problems have on the economy, the environment and the health of the population" assesses the KLSH./ Monitor Magazine