'New York Times': Trash from Albania washes up on Croatian coast, caused by storm

2025-11-27 20:40:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

'New York Times': Trash from Albania washes up on Croatian coast,

The prestigious media outlet "New York Times" wrote today about an unusual case of a pile of waste on the Croatian coast, mainly coming from Albania.

According to the article, officials in Dubrovnik, Croatia, say that strong currents in the Adriatic Sea have washed a ton of trash ashore during a storm in recent days.

As reported, work has begun on their collection, while there has been no shortage of ideas for using the waste for recycling projects.

Part of the article:

One country's waste, in fact, can also be another country's waste.

Officials in Dubrovnik, Croatia, have failed to find any treasure among the colossal amount of trash that washed ashore this week in the city, often called the Pearl of the Adriatic and usually frequented by tourists. The trash came mostly from Albania, they said.

A storm in the Adriatic Sea churned its waters and strong southerly currents deposited a ton of trash, a city official said, on two major tourist attractions: Banja Beach and the city's Old Town.

"Based on the labels and materials found, the vast majority of the waste appears to originate from Albania," said Marija Pajic Bacic, a representative for Dubrovnik.

Dubrovnik Mayor Mato Frankovic said that all city services, including sewer workers and port workers, were involved in the cleanup operation.

While members of a recycling organization said they would try to reuse some of the plastic items into useful items, it was not clear what could be recovered.

Recyclers and cleanup crews have gained a lot of experience, as the Adriatic has been unloading tons of garbage onto the shores of Dubrovnik for years.

Plastic waste is a particularly sensitive issue in Dubrovnik, a city of 42,000 people, which signed a pledge in 2020 committing to reducing plastic waste. While the city itself is small, it hosts 4.5 million tourists each year, which generates a lot of plastic waste.

Every year, tens of millions of tons of plastic enter the Earth's seas and oceans. Overall, less than 10 percent of global plastic waste is estimated to be recycled, with the rest being landfilled, incinerated or released into the environment. These plastics have become a major threat to marine life, according to scientists.