The Ticking Trash Time Bomb In The Balkans

Every time Srdjan Milic steps into his backyard, his nose rudely reminds him that he lives near one of Kosovo's biggest and most toxic waste dumps.

"I don't know how to put it: We live here because we have to live here. You can smell it yourself," Milic, 72, told RFE/RL's Kosovo Service.

Milic's modest home is located in Palaj, a settlement near Obiliq, a town in central Kosovo, an area of the tiny Balkan country that is already struggling with choking pollution from coal-powered energy plants.

In recent years, the nearby Mirash landfill, about 500 meters from Milic's home, has become not only an increasing worry for residents but also for the authorities and even the EU, which has called on Pristina to clean up the site and shut it down, with Brussels even suggesting it could fund an alternative.

Western Balkan Countries Face Growing Toxic-Waste Crises (Video)

Landfills bursting at the seams are common across the Balkans. Kosovo, Albania, and Montenegro were recently ranked by London's Lloyd's Register as among the globe's worst 10 countries in handling waste and tackling pollution.

In Albania, for example, beaches on the Adriatic coast are strewn with trash as plans to build incinerators are delayed amid widespread corruption. In Montenegro, although environmentalism is enshrined in the country's constitution, little progress has been made.

The Case Of Kosovo

Created in 2006, the Mirash landfill takes in trash from at least six Kosovar cities, totaling around 160,000 metric tons per year. Situated in a former coal pit, the landfill lies lower than a nearby lake, leaving it susceptible to flooding.

"The problem with sewage at this landfill has been out of control for many years because the collection point has flooded," said Dardan Velija, head of the Public Company for Waste Landfill Management (KMDK).

Rubbish Above Rooftops In A Serbian Town As Landfills Overflow

In its latest report in 2022, the KMDK said the site poses a "permanent risk to the environment, a threat to state assets, but the greatest danger is the potential risk to human health and the loss of life in that environment."

The European Union has repeatedly urged Kosovo to close and clean up the site amid numerous KMDK warnings the landfill could contaminate groundwater in surrounding villages. Despite that, neither the KMDK nor the Kosovar government has presented plans to shut the site.

"As long as there's no new [landfill] capacity, it's practically impossible to close it," Velija added.

Not just Pristina, but Brussels and other European partners are concerned. The German Development Bank told RFE/RL it was exploring alternative landfill sites to "reduce the burden on Mirash."

Mirash is no outlier. Most of the Kosovo's seven other public -- i.e. legal -- landfills should be closed or at least expanded because they are overflowing.

The problem is compounded by the fact that little waste is recycled, according to Tahir Krasniqi, a researcher from the Kosovo-based Center for Environmental Education and Development. And while waste collection has improved in recent years, nearly 400 illegal waste sites pockmark Kosovo.

A September 2024 report, the World Risk Poll by the Lloyd's Register Foundation, ranked Kosovo as the third-worst country in the world for household-waste separation.

"Maybe if we didn't throw plastic bags [in the landfill] and nylon, it would be different to live here; it wouldn't stink so much," said Milic, referring to the burning plastic smell that sometimes wafts from Mirash.

Good Intentions In Albania

Neighboring Albania -- one of Europe's fastest-growing tourist destinations -- hoped to build incinerators to not only burn trash but generate power. In 2016, Tirana unveiled plans to build three trash incinerators -- near Elbasan, Fier, and the capital, Tirana -- but the project soon became embroiled in corruption, leading to jail time for former Environment Minister Lefter Koka. Related corruption cases are still in the courts.

Currently, only one incinerator -- in Elbasan, about 50 kilometers southwest of Tirana -- is operational, although its unclear how much waste is incinerated there, let alone how much power is generated.

At the other two sites, landfills function as trash collection points, something locals, including many farmers, are not happy about.

"Pollution affects the crops a lot. The air is polluted, and so is the irrigation water," said Ledion Buzi, a farmer in a village near Fier, the site of one of the other two projected landfills. Farmers there worry the soil and water is being slowly poisoned by the expanding landfill.

The nonfunctioning incinerator in Fier next to the growing waste landfill

Many of Albania's waterways are impacted by waste. A few kilometers from Cape Rodon and its beach resorts, the Ishem River disgorges massive amounts of trash, including plastics, metals, and even medical waste into the Adriatic Sea.

"Every day, more waste flows in," lamented Nazmi Canameti, a fisherman, whose nets are frequently damaged by debris.

The Ishem River is widely regarded as one of Europe's dirtiest, spewing an estimated 700 kilograms of plastics alone into the Adriatic Sea each year.

That dire state inspired environmental activist Lulzim Baumann to launch a local recycling center to clean the Ishem River of some of the plastic waste.

"It is just part of my greater vision to clean up the entire Ishem River," Baumann explained.

Rising Cancer Rates

While Montenegro declared itself an "ecological state" back in 1990 (it became independent in 2006), the country has struggled with that status, in particular with regard to waste management, including landfills.

One of the most notorious landfills, near the town of Rozaje, has been a ticking trash time bomb for decades. Local residents suspect it is behind high lung-cancer rates. Local doctors tend to agree but no data confirms any link.

Srdjan Milic stands in his backyard in Palaj, a settlement near Obiliq, a town in central Kosovo.

"My father died of lung cancer, as did three of my uncles. They all died relatively young, up to the age of 60," said Denis Muric, a local activist. "But [there is] one interesting thing -- they all suffered from lung cancer. They had no genetic history of cancer before."

A local doctor, Adem Muric, is also convinced rising cancer rates are linked to the landfill.

"I worked in Rozaje from 2019 to 2023, and there was a clear increase in cancer cases, particularly among the younger and middle-aged populations," Muric said. "Dozens of people from nearby villages have died from lung cancer."

For decades, waste -- up to 6,500 metric tons a year -- has ended up at the Mostina waste dump. In 2012, local officials announced plans to close it down, but more than a decade later the landfill still operates.

Activists say waste of all types ends up there now, including tires, which are often burned, posing an additional environmental risk.

The Mostina waste landfill in the Rozaje municipality in Montenegro

The government has announced a new regional landfill to be built by 2025, as Podgorica worries failure to resolve this environmental crisis could complicate the country's European future.

"If we do not resolve this issue…Mostina and many other landfills -- unfortunately, there are around 340 of them in Montenegro, including illegal ones -- all of these could become an obstacle to Montenegro's entry into the European Union," said Damjan Culafic, Montenegro's environmental minister.

After public pressure and protests, authorities have increased monitoring of Mostina, and burning waste at the site was largely halted in September.

But local residents continue to press for more action and Muric has filed a lawsuit for officials mismanagement of the landfill.

"When the smoke from the landfill reaches us, it completely fills this place, and we can't see each other because of the smoke," Denis explained.

With EU states hoping to hit recycling rates of at least 50 percent by 2030, Kosovo, Albania, and Montenegro have much work to do to catch up.