The mystery without much mystery of the dangerous metallurgical dust!

2024-08-21 20:44:00, Opinione Mentor Kikia

The waste, which is being debated a lot these days, is dust obtained from atmospheric discharge filters from the metallurgical industry and (perhaps) the "ashes" that remain from the recycling of metals, scrap. They contain zinc, in a significant percentage, but also other heavy metals, dangerous for every living thing, including plants. Until at least a decade ago, these ended up in the atmosphere and natural environments, but the implementation of some environmental standards led to the obligation to place filters in chimneys.

This dust and ash is exported to countries that have the technology to separate and extract the zinc. Or they treat the dust, making it harmless. But the export is done under very strict conditions, where every transit country where the product will pass, is aware of it. Therefore, a special permit is needed from each country where this product will transit. The exporting company is specially licensed for this work and the carrier is aware of the product it is transporting.

As far as you know, for many years people in Elbasan have inhaled this dust, since the Metalurgjiku had no filters.

What happened in this case? The Ministry of Environment says that the remains belong to Kurumi. Kurumi says "I am not an exporter".

Customs says that the amount blocked in China was exported by a company from Kosovo.

Kosovo has no metallurgy, but it is not surprising that they are products of Skopje Metallurgy, which produces dozens of times more than that of Elbasan and, according to some of my information, has been looking for an exporter in Albania.

But even in the case of the company from Kosovo, the Albanian authorities, customs and the environment, should have been aware, since they had to give permission even for the transit of this cargo.

The questions that need to be clarified by the investigation, in the case of the amount that came out of the metallurgy of Elbasan, but also of the Kosovar company, are:

- With what certificates and customs declarations did the Albanian exporting company export the "goods"?

- Did she have a special permit from the Ministry of Environment for this work?

- Did the customs know what this product was that was being loaded on the ship and did they have to check this?

- According to the protocol, were the transit countries informed about what was being transported and did they give permission?

- Did Albanian customs and the Ministry of Environment have information about the amount of this product that was transited by the Kosovar company through Albania?

These will reveal whether we are dealing with an organized traffic, or with speculative companies that have thrown tons of dangerous waste to the state, passing through its only sea port, without declaring the truth.

And the last one: When you read earlier in the media news from Elbasan that "filters are turned off at night to save energy", know what was thrown into the air and what air the people there inhaled.

PS: Photo of November 2023, the cloud of smog produced when a mountain of iron waste (scrap), in Metallurgy, caught fire!/ CNA