Following the Kosovo Government's decision to use masks and gloves for preventing the spread of coronary, the amount of their waste from outside containers has increased.
From the organisation “to clear Kosovo”, which deals with conservation and environmental protection, say that after declaring the pandemic, no additional activity has been observed by competent organs to deal with these remains in particular.
Luan Hasanaj, executive director in this organisation, says that the health of the citizens and volunteers of this organisation, which deal with cleaning up Kosovo's various spaces, is thus threatened.
We suggest health authorities place special baskets and containers for all medical medications used to treat people with COVIDD-19, but those who go looking for treatment. There must be special trash cans. Then, even companies that deal with waste management should deal with these specifically”, Hasanaj tells Radio Free Europe.
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But, at the University Clinical Centre of Kosovo (QKUK), all medical remains, including one-time protective clothing against COVIDD-19, treated in the facility for treatment of medical waste.
Mehdi Krasniqi, chief of the KKUK technical services sector, indicates that the medical remains of the Family Medicine Centre are also handled in this facility.
The “in this facility becomes the treatment of all medical tools, such as syringes, infusions, protective clothing, and other items. First, they are crushed through the corresponding device, then through steam up to 180 degrees Celsius becomes sterilized. Of the total amount of medical waste, only 1/3 of the amount remains after treatment. Sterile and become ordinary refuse. Later, it is handled by the company "The Cleaner" that collects them and dumps them into the corresponding depot”, Krasniqi explains.
Regional waste company “Cleaning” in Pristina is public company, which deals with collection, transport and waste management in Pristina and six other Kosovo municipalities.
Arbnor Ademi, spokeswoman at the company “Cleaning”, in a conversation for Radio Free Europe, says the company also makes waste collection at the University Clinical Centre of Kosovo, other health institutions, and many times encounters on masks, gloves and other protective equipment, which, according to her, pose risks to workers' health.
The collection of waste, she says, is becoming regularly like before pandemic.
“We have agreements with the University Clinical Centre of Kosovo for garbage collection. However, as far as the current situation is concerned with COVID-19 for safeguard clauses, we have no concrete agreement. We do the removal of that garbage into the KKUK spaces over 24 hours. There are masks, gloves, medical staff protections, there are medical products that company employees have cleared away. We don't know where those waste ends up, do they end up in any other company or end up in the containers of our company that we perform the service...”, says Ademi.
After gathering from the company “Cleaning”, waste, whatever it is, is sent to waste depots in the Miras of the Obilic municipality.
This warehouse is managed by the Kosovo Deposit Management Company. The chief executive of the company, Abdullah Hadziu, says there is no information about whether equipment and medical products are stored in the deposited waste.
We have no mechanism to identify whether medical products are coming in. We try it in classic forms, through hand tools, to see if there's this kind of garbage. But, it's a lot of trouble, because they, in most cases, come in different bags and it's a problem to identify. So the entire amount of waste is covered with and”, Haxhiu says.
However, according to the company's representative, such waste can be dangerous to the workers of these companies and also illegal collectors.
Besides medical waste in health centres, Luan Hasanaj, from nongovernmental organisation “Clearing Kosovo”, says that Kosovo is an enzyme pollution of the environment from the use of masks, gloves, bottles of disinfectants and other personal protection devices, which are thrown by irresponsible citizens.
“We, during our daily activities, have noticed that these devices are dropped without control in many spaces. So, there is a very large presence, whether of masks, gloves, but also of drugs, which citizens are uncontrollably throwing at”, Hasanaj says.
From the presence of these equipment on the street, the possibility of spreading the virus exists, says infected Arben Visaj.
The extraction of masks into open environments is a dangerous procedure that can lead to the spread of infection. Mostly endangered are municipal workers who collect these wastes and children. Throwing masks, except it's rude, is behavior that seriously harms other people's health, when the fact that the virus can remain in text content for days”, says Visaj.
Under measures to prevent the spread of the COVIID-19 pandemic, the Government of Kosovo, on July 28th, 2020, has made a decision, under which all residents of the Republic of Kosovo are obliged to wear masks on their faces on all activities outside their homes.
If these measures are not respected, citizens can be punished under the Law on Prevention and Fighting of COVID-19, which has been adopted by mid-month in the Kosovo Assembly.
Based on this law, which is published Wednesday in the official newspaper, it is said that” the physical person who does not respect the decision to wear a mask and keep a distance is fined 35 euros”.
