[ad_1]
This is the chemical storage center in Balëz. In these bunkers are stored 216 tons of chemical waste, such as dichloromethane, arsenic salts, ammonium nitrate, ammonium hydroxide, and even cyanide.
This has been identified as an environmental hotspot by UNDP since 2008. This center, where some of the most dangerous chemicals have been stored since 2010, is located in the heart of the village, surrounded by dozens of houses. Paradoxically, next to this facility are the school, kindergarten and health center of the area.
School teachers say off-camera, that they are concerned about the waste stored next to them, and that they have asked several times for information about their hazard. Some confirm that they have shown allergies. There have been cases where village children have been eventually displaced from school due to serious breathing problems.
“It is absurd where this warehouse was found, it must be moved urgently from the place” said Ahmet Mehmeti, environmental expert
Although storage conditions may be good, the substances still evaporate and spread to the surrounding air. The only solution suggested by experts is waste relocation.
“This deposit is not forever. This is a temporary storage site and when more than 10 years have passed we see that nothing has been done yet. A solution must be found. “No matter how well they are preserved, they are subjected to various processes and evaporate,” said Ahmet Mehmeti, environmental expert.
This hazardous waste is a serious concern for residents as well. While they complain that they are mired in poverty and do not have employment opportunities, their lands are polluted due to this waste. “I have the lands under the warehouses of these chemicals, and we have them all contaminated. They are above water sources and all the water we get for irrigation is polluted… it is a real scandal.
“There is no work or anything here. Now they have brought us these chemicals. They used to have them in the tunnel of my house, I saw them myself when they loaded them and brought them here, but we hoped they would be removed from us. “Of course we have a lot of problems.” In 2010, about 90 tons of chemicals from the warehouse in Balëz, Elbasan were repackaged and transported to Germany, Belgium and Greece by a Greek company, but most still remain unresolved.
“In Elbasan are collected hazardous reagents that have existed in barrels or bags, and hazardous waste is hundreds of thousands of tons where there was a mineral industry and all this requires an extremely careful and professional monitoring system, which does not happen,” said Besnik Bare, chemist.
top channel
[ad_2]
Source link
