Recyclable waste import

The Prime Minister’s lawyer, Ivi Kaso, claimed that if article 49 of the waste management law will be removed, there will be a liberalization process of the waste import and this would set Albania several years back.

The Deputy Environment Minister, Taulant Bino, declared that by removing law 49, we will liberalize the waste import market, which is currently smaller in the list of green wastes.

“The referendum request brings the liberalization of the list with 550 elements, and disturbs the entire monitoring process. If law 49 will still be on, the waste import will not stop. The waste import is defined by article 48, which allows the import of safe waste materials for as long that they will not be allowed inside Albania for preservation or elimination, but for other purposes”, Bino declared.

The Civil Society stressed that the import of uncontrolled waste must be banned, based on the fact that according to the Ministry of Environment, they have increased significantly.

“It is untrue that by repealing these articles that require initiators there could be a liberalized waste import. This is categorically prohibited by the Bazel Convention, signed by the Albanian government in 1999, and you cannot leave the waste import uncontrolled. Everything is regulated by these dispositions. Certainly, it is still in the first phase when we are investigating the construction of new powerful incinerators, and this shows that the import capacities in the upcoming years will be much higher than those in question”, declared lawyer Dorian Matlia.

The Parliament’s lawyers declared that the 50.000 signatures for the referendum should be considered invalid, going this way against the CEC decision. This claim was opposed by the civil society lawyers, who say that the waste import should be completely banned, rather than getting liberalized.

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