Informal waste collectors endanger health in the absence of protective means

In this regular activity, they face serious dangers because they work without protective means.

Officials who deal with the rights of Minorites in Kosovo told Radio Kosovo that individuals who work as garbage collectors do not earn more than 100 euros a month.

Unformized Kosovo garbage collectors search for garbage in public containers, classify it, and then sell it to private companies that handle waste.

Adrian Zeqiri, executive director of the European Centre for Mine Affairs in Kosovo, told Radio Kosovo that informal garbage collectors work under very difficult conditions, even endangering their health.

“As far as informal collectors are concerned, they are exposed to a major risk of d.m. that. They also risk their health when it is the job they do, but there is also the only way to make a living and their resources”, Zeqiri said.

Young people from Fushë Kosova say informal collectors in their municipality should be given access to employment by private waste companies, as with those revenues they support the family.

If their lives are at stake during the garbage collection, we need to find mechanisms to help them.

People dealing with garbage collection should be given an opportunity to be employed in waste recycling factories.

Bajram Limani, manager of the Quality System in the Deponi Management Company, said Kosovo is marking increases in waste generation.

Currently, all wastes are not addressed in our country, and unless we make recycling of waste the situation is expected to change in the near future, Limani said.