Coordinated Actions to Save Shkumbin from Plastic Pollution

"Coordinated Actions to Save Shkumbin from Plastic Pollution"

The large amounts of waste collected along the riverbanks clearly show that we must take urgent and strong measures. From the assessments made, it is essential that state institutions and law enforcement agencies be more active and coordinated. Preventive and managerial measures should be taken for plastic pollution by municipalities that lie along the watercourse of the Shkumbin river, to stop dumping waste into the rivers and to reduce pollution from plastic waste. This can be achieved through the drafting and implementation of local action plans aimed at recycling and reusing, as well as eliminating the use of single-use plastics. For this reason, local governments must be clearer and more determined in the implementation of policies and concrete measures, to prevent anyone from treating the environment as a no-man's land where everyone can do as they please. Rivers cannot continue to serve as open landfills for municipalities or small villages. We must work together to protect our environment.

The regional project BeMed+, financed by the French Facility for Global Environment (FFEM), which is being implemented in Albania in the pilot area of the Shkumbin river basin, aims to reduce the plastic pollution of the river, whose waters then flow into the Adriatic Sea, part of the Mediterranean Sea. This project is working in three main directions: cooperation with municipalities, the HORECA sector, and sports tourism.

Let’s contribute together for a cleaner Shkumbin!