
Analysis/ Albania illegally exported thousands of tons of hazardous waste during 2020-2023
In August 2022, Thailand's Ministry of Industry received a request from the Albanian government to allow the receipt of cargoes containing ash from electric arc furnaces, EAFD, a by-product of the steel industry rich in heavy metals and classified as hazardous waste.
Thailand was a major importer of industrial and urban waste from developed countries, and yet, this time, the ministry said "No."
“EAFDs have been a big problem for Thailand and the ministry did not want to make it worse,” Sirakarn Leungsakul, director of the Industrial Waste Management Division at the Ministry of Industry based in Bangkok, told BIRN.
The cross-border trade of EAFD is regulated by the Basel Convention, an international agreement which ensures that these wastes are treated properly to reduce the risk to humans and the environment.
But the Ministry's rejection of Albania's request was not the end of the story.
Almost two years later, on July 5, 2024, a ship loaded with 102 containers filled with what is listed as Iron Oxide on customs documents, departed the port of Durres bound for Thailand. The Basel Action Network, a Seattle-based organization that fights against the export of hazardous waste from industrialized societies to developing countries, stated that the ship was actually transporting EAFD.
The ship disappeared from radar while sailing off the coast of South Africa, often a sign that the ship's transponder had been switched off. This was when the Basel Action Network raised the alarm. The ship was stopped in Singapore and ordered to return to Durres, where prosecutors began to raise questions.
Based on information obtained through right to information requests, BIRN was now able to discover that between 2020 and 2023, an amount of around 20,000 tons of hazardous waste generated by the chimneys of the Turkish company "Kurum International" operating in Elbasan was exported outside Albania, in violation of national and international laws.
The waste was exported by the company “Sokolaj” sh.pk owned by Gjovana Sokolaj; while the shipments were shipped without the proper authorizations from the Albanian Ministry of Tourism and Environment as required by law. At least two of the shipments ended up in Thailand.
The Kurum company operates communist-era blast furnaces to produce iron for the construction industry and is a major employer in Elbasan.
However, BIRN discovered that an inspection carried out on the Kurum by the National Environment Agency for hazardous waste, after the ship was detained in Singapore, was the first of its kind since 2020, despite Kurum being one of the largest generators of hazardous waste in the country.
Ornela Çuçi, an environmental expert and former Deputy Minister of Environment, said that poor monitoring had allowed such waste trafficking to go unnoticed.
“The environmental permitting law is one of the best in the Republic of Albania today,” Çuçi told BIRN. “What has happened is that we have abused its monitoring.”
“Every entity that exports waste abroad obtains an export permit. Every quantity exported must be reported to the Ministry of Tourism and Environment and the KTA,” Çuçi added. “The math is simple; Do the declared quantities match the quantities exported abroad?”
The company “Kurum International” told BIRN that it had transferred the hazardous waste containing zinc oxide to “Sokolaj” after ensuring that the exporter had a license to transport this product and an export authorization from the Ministry of Tourism and Environment. BIRN asked “Kurum” for a copy of the authorization, but never received it.
“The entire quantity was traded with a fiscal invoice, but it was not accompanied by waste transfer documentation,” Kurum said through a spokesperson, referring to a mandatory transfer document that enables the tracking of shipments. The spokesperson said Kurum had regularly reported this waste to the National Environment Agency.
Neither the Minister of Tourism and Environment, Mirela Kumbaro, nor the director of the National Environment Agency, Arta Dollani, responded to requests for comment.
Supervision 'failed'
The Durrës Prosecutor's Office has not yet said what exactly was inside the containers of the ship that returned from Singapore.
"Kurum International" has been operating parts of the former Metallurgical Combine built during the communist regime in Elbasan since 1998. In 2010, the company installed filters to capture the ash from electric arc furnaces, EAFD, but still produces an average of 8 thousand tons per year if operating at full capacity.
Despite the production of such hazardous waste, the inspection for the implementation of the environmental permit that was carried out in September 2024 was the first since 2020.
"Kurum" transferred its waste to the "Sokolaj" company during the years 2020-2023, although the two companies only signed a contract in August 2023.
The Regional Environmental Agency for Berat, Elbasan and Korca said that Kurum failed to make the transfer documents of this waste available to the Agency. The Agency imposed a fine and suspended the transfers of hazardous waste.
At the National Business Center, the company "Sokolaj" based on the outskirts of Durrës describes its activity as the import and export of non-hazardous waste, such as zinc or copper.
The National Environmental Agency found in August 2024 that between December 2020 and November 2023, Sokolaj had purchased from Kurum 2,800 tons of iron oxide waste as well as 20 thousand tons of EAFD classified as hazardous waste with the code 10 02 07*. The entire quantity had already been exported abroad before the inspection.
Inspectors concluded that these exports were carried out in violation of the law as Sokolaj did not have documents for the transfer of waste from Kurum and did not have an export authorization from the Ministry of Tourism and Environment.
Dritan Metaj, director of the Regional Environmental Agency for Berat, Elbasan and Korca, told BIRN that he had carried out sporadic monitoring at the “Kurum” company when he had “indications and denunciations”.
"I have not proposed an approved monitoring plan, nor has a work plan been authorized by the KTA," said Metaj.
Experts told BIRN that according to the type A environmental permit, which Kurum has, the National Environmental Agency must monitor compliance with the permit and regularly review the data that the permit holder submits to the Agency and the national waste transfer register.
“Every company that has a permit to export hazardous waste has an obligation to report periodically,” said Polikron Horeshka, a waste management expert. “However, it is the supervision that has failed in this case.”
Thailand initially emerged as a destination for plastic waste from wealthy countries like the United States and Japan, before opening its doors to the EAFD. In 2023, however, in response to environmental alarm, Thailand called for a ban on the import of hazardous waste, before also banning the import of plastic waste earlier this year.
Like Albania, Thailand has a poor record when it comes to corruption and environmental protection.
The 2,800 tonnes of waste labelled as iron oxide that the company “Sokolaj” tried to export in July last year was supposed to end up at a recycling plant called Copper Metal, built in a green area of Lopburi province in Thailand. Copper Metal is registered as a recycler of industrial waste, but not for the treatment of EAFD.
After the shipment was blocked, Thailand's Ministry of Industry ordered an inspection at the Copper Metal company, in which the director of the Industrial Waste Management Division, Leungsakul, said it was found that the ventilation system and zinc recycling machinery were not working properly.
The environmental organization Ecological Alert and Recovery – Thailand, known as EARTH, also sent representatives, who took samples of dust scattered around the factory to study. The samples are still being analyzed.
EARTH director Penchom Saetang said corruption facilitates waste trafficking in Thailand and those involved get away with it because of light sentences.
“The main cause of this problem in Thailand is ‘corruption’ or ‘bribe’, both by authorities and the private sector,” Saetang said. “Although the maximum penalty for this offense is 10 years in prison, in practice offenders are only fined a minimal amount and no one has been imprisoned yet,” he added.
New request for waste export
"Kurum", meanwhile, still seeks to export hazardous waste.
The Ministry of Tourism and Environment is currently evaluating a request for authorization to export 8,000 tons of hazardous waste from "Kurum" to Saudi Arabia, submitted on July 25, 2024.
In the application, the waste is described as containing “solid waste from the treatment of gases containing dangerous substances or powder waste from the electric arc furnace (PFEH) containing Zinc Oxide in the Steel Plant”. The cited waste code is 10 02 07*.
"Kurum" says it has signed a contract with Global Steel Dust Gulf - the Saudi branch of a company founded in Switzerland - to treat 8,000 tons of hazardous waste per year.
As of September 2024, Kurum's premises contained 3,724 tons of hazardous waste packaged in 4,600 big bags, but Kurum said the export authorization request was made on the premise that it could produce 8,000 tons per year if operating at full capacity. Kurum's operations are currently suspended due to repairs.
The Ministry of Tourism and Environment said it had initially rejected the request, but was now considering approval after Kurum submitted additional documents.
"After the completion of the documentation by the entity, the application is in the review process," the Ministry said in an email response.
Jim Puckett, executive director of the Basel Action Network, said that Albania should be extremely cautious.
“Factories in Saudi Arabia do not treat waste to the standards required by the Basel convention, and Saudi Arabia is not a signatory,” Puckett said./Monitor
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