Public consultation meeting about regional landfill and waste transfer stations
Early participation in any project in waste management is fundamental to achieve acceptance within the concerned communities. With the future regional integrated solid waste management system in Berat Region, all municipal dumpsites will be closed, and a central sanitary landfill will be operated. Central does not mean in a geographical sense but central to the municipalities, which generate the most waste: Berat, Kucova and Dimal.
Long distances to the centres of Polican and Skrapar above 30 km make transfer stations in both municipalities necessary. There, the municipal solid waste collected is being emptied into 30 m³ containers, which are being frequently transferred to the regional sanitary landfill. This reduces the transport time for the individual collection vehicle. The mayors of Skrapar and Polican proposed suitable state-owned sites.
The sites shall be located away from communities but easily accessible from main roads to optimise the waste collection service and long-distance transport. The potentials to use old dumpsites have also been assessed. In the scope of the ISWM project, preliminary Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) reports are being drafted, which can be used by the future implementation project. An ESIA assesses potential risks or negative impacts a project might have on its environment. Furthermore, measures to mitigate or avoid potential risks are being determined. In the case of small solid waste management transfer stations, only a preliminary ESIA is required. In contrast to a full scale ESIA, public consultations are not required.
It was basic understanding of the ISWM Berat Project to perform early public consultation meetings with members of the Competence Teams of Skrapar and Polican and further stakeholders of local communities. Resident Project Manager Mirela Buhuri, Environmental and Social Impact Assessment Expert Professor Alfred Lako and Solid Waste Management Expert Julia Mohr showed the stakeholders what a transfer station means for the Municipality and the regional system and underlined the improvements in comparison to the current dumpsites.
Also, the technical background and the operation of the transfer station was presented and potential environmental impacts and their mitigations have been discussed. The audience in the meeting further discussed with the Project’s experts their questions and underlined, that they will inform their communities about the planned measures and explain the advantages.
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