In 2019, some 1.08 million tonnes of urban waste was collected in Albania. This was a decrease of 18% when compared with 2018.
The amount of urban waste produced per person throughout the country in 2019 was 381kg, down from 462kg in 2018.
According to INSTAT, 87.9% of the population of Albania have access to Municipal waste management services. This was an increase of 22.2% on the previous year. The number of people able to access waste collection services has increased substantially from 2013 where it was just 50.7%. While numbers have fluctuated over the year, 2019 was by far the best year with almost the whole country served.
In terms of the most common types of waste, organic waste accounted for 41% of the total, followed by plastic with 14% and paper with 12%.
Almost 80% of all waste in 2019 was deposited into landfills, an increase from 76.4% in 2018. Only 18.7% of waste was recycled, almost the same as in the previous year. Less than 1% was incinerated for energy purposes, a decrease of one percentage point from 2018.
The incineration of waste for elimination and energy reasons has decreased substantially over the last few years but unfortunately, so has the amount that has been recycled. In 2013, some 225,638 tonnes were recycled, but this figure has fallen to 203,440 in 2019.
Another sad statistic is the fact that landfill deposits have almost doubled since 2013 with 847,208 tonnes of rubbish being deposited in 2019 alone.
