Until 2018, the statistics on “Urban Solid Waste in Albania” were based on data gathered from the waste collection and management entities, through the annual survey on urban waste. In 2020, for the collection of data on urban solid waste, INSTAT applied for the first time the innovative method through "online" questionnaires in all municipalities of the country.

Municipal solid waste is deposited in waste collection bins and in our country they are generally collected not separated by type. Industrial waste resulting from products and services of small business entities in the urban territory are often dumped in the same sites.

In this publication are given annual statistics for urban wastes in Albania, like:

• Waste managed with public funds in total, by resident inhabitants and years.
• The amount of managed waste by main generating sources.
• Coverage level of resident population with community services regarding urban waste management.
• Relative compound of managed wastes by dominant materials compared to the total.
• Waste treatment in quantity and percentage by main treatment methods.
• Total generated wastes at country level and wastes not managed with public funds.

According to the definitions of European legislation Municipal solid waste, is considered any solid substance or object that its owner is interested in abandoning and wants or is obliged to dispose of. The owner removes these physical materials from himself, thus losing any concrete interest in these substances or objects, regardless of the values they may carry at the time of abandonment.

Information on urban solid waste in Albania is annual and at country level. The data presented in this publication were collected through online questionnaires, completed by staff dealing with waste management in the respective municipalities.

Municipal solid wastes, the object of this publication, are household solid waste and other similar waste, which come from community services to the population in residential areas, even temporarily. Urban waste statistics refer to generalized annual data at the national level for the production of standard statistical indicators, as defined in the Albanian and European legislation, implementing the same classifications and definitions according to the relevant regulations.

Urban waste statistics are subject to revision and improvement, with new data and facts if they are recorded after this publication. For more information follow the link:

http://instat.gov.al/al/dokumentimi/cil%C3%ABsia-statistikore/

Albanian legislation:

• Law nr. 9180 date 5.2.2004 "For Official Statistics".

Albanian Official Statistics Program:

• The Official Statistics Program of Albania for the period 2017 - 2021.

EU legislation:

• Regulation No. 2150/2002 on waste statistics.
• European Council Directive No. b2008/98/EC for wastes and mandatory report of waste statistics.
• European Council directive No. 782/2005, that sets mandatory format for the transmission of results in waste statistics.
• European Council Regulation No. 783/2005, Annex II for waste regulation.
• European Council Directive No. 2150/2002 for appropriate assessment criteria of quality and content of the quality reports for waste statistics.
• European Commission Regulation 849/2010 for urban waste management.
• Waste Statistics handbook for the year 2013 and the legislation cited in it.

Definitions

Wastes managed with public funds in total and referring to resident inhabitants are: Wastes which are managed under the auspices of local government and financed as services from their budget, for the local residents and others residing in their administrative territory.

The amount of managed waste by main generating sources is: the total amount of managed waste divided into urban solid wastes, which are family and community services wastes and industrial wastes which are deposited and subsequently managed with urban waste.

The coverage level of resident population with community-based services for waste management is: the level in % of population living permanently or temporarily in a particular territory, for whose wastes is provided proper service at all stages of their management, financed with public funds.

Relative compound of managed wastes by dominating materials compared to the total is: the percentage which the specific type of waste represents to the total amount of wastes.

Waste treatment in quantity, percentage and by main ways of treatment expresses the final destination of wastes grouped by standard methods of treatment.

Total generated wastes in country level and wastes not managed with public funds are: Managed urban wastes with public funds and wastes managed by the private generating sources. Privately managed wastes that result from generating sources as mathematical deduction between managed waste per capita and the coverage level resident inhabitants with community services for wastes.

The structure of entities that manage wastes means the percentage of subjects classified according to their legal status in the total subjects who manage waste in the respective years.

Total generated wastes constitute the theoretical amount of waste produced by human activity in the respective year. This indicator refers to the waste managed in areas where this activity is carried out as a public service to the community and the quantity of waste managed by the residents because waste treatment is not provided by public services. The total amount of generated waste in this case comes as the theoretical calculation of the total waste generated by residents based on the managed waste indicator per resident per year and the extent of coverage of residents with waste services in the relevant year.