🆕➡️VÝZVY SlovakAid 2024⬅️🆕
Home News Slovakia brings practical experience to Albania via micro-grant
Managing waste is a major issue in Albania. On average every person in Albania generates around 310kg of waste a year. Nearly 80% of domestic waste ends up in landfills and well over half of all waste is organic. The local environment in rural areas is also badly affected by widespread littering and the dumping of waste in rivers often caused by the lack of adequate waste collection services.
One low-cost and sustainable solution is to increase the composting of organic waste. Composting is an environmentally friendly waste management practice that directly helps reduce the amount of organic waste going to landfills. As an additional benefit the use of compost has been proven to increase the delivery of nutrients to the soil, helps reduce soil erosion as well as reducing the dependency by farmers on chemical fertilisers.
Since 2022 Help in Albania, with funding from SlovakAid, has been supporting local families in rural villages surrounding Tirana to engage in composting by establishing a rural organic composting scheme. As part of the scheme Help in Albania runs local information sessions for local families on the benefits of composting as well as providing local families with factsheets and guide on how to start composting at their homes. Finally Help provides participating households with their own composting bin. Initially the scheme the set up in the villages of Zall Hall to the north of Tirana and has since the beginning of 2024 it has been extended to the villages of Berzhite to the southeast of the city. By the end of 2024 a total 110 families will be part of the scheme and actively composting.
An important aspect of the organic composting scheme has been to raising awareness of local people in rural communities on environmental protection issues. Public events have been held for local inhabitants to facilitate discussions on local environment issues. Information sessions on the environment have also been organised with teachers for local school children. There has been an ECO art exhibition of children’s work and a litter clean up activity was carried out by school children.
Help in Albania’s rural organic composting scheme is increasing know-how on composting and is having a positive impact on the local environment.