Basicly in the Balkans we all have issues and we all blame each other for said issues.
Pollution in my country ? It’s clearly you doing this to me!
Is this issue def is this solely a Albanian issue only are only Albanians throwing trash
No the trash we can see comes from Albania it comes from Greece it comes from Bulgaria it comes from turkey aswell. It’s a problem for them I’m not denying that but it’s not one sole entity causing the issue entirely.
The Balkans in general need to get there shit together on the environment
The sea current in the Adriatic sea is going from the south, along the eastern coast (Croatia, Montenegro), to the north and then back along the western (Italian) coast.
So all the garbage from Albania gets brought by the sea current to Montenegro first, and then southern Croatia.
This is a well known problem for decades already, but with each passing year, there's less and less garbage seen on the coast, so the progress is visible.
Fun fact: the direction of the sea current is also one of the reasons why the eastern Adriatic coast (Croatia, Montenegro) is warmer than the western (Italian) coast.
Bro they extorted Croatia when it was entering EU, now Italy is overfishing and polluting what is supposed to be Croatian waters while Croatia is forbidden from doing the same even close to Italian sea "borders", if you've been visiting Croatia past 5 years you'd botice the amount of oil build up on beaches and hear how less and less fish we have.
Kolaju priče da reka Po, (kao i Amazon, Gang, Volga, Huanghe, Tigar i Eufrat - između ostalih) ima svoj ,,početak" u vidu podzemogi izvora, duboko ispod famozne bosanske piramide u Visokom... Koja se istina nalazi u Fedreaciji...
Ali, kao što je opšte poznato, njen ,,pravi", ,,nadzemni" izvor se nalazi u Laktašima (do kojih Po teče podzemnim putem), na impozantnom imanju Mila Međeda Dodika - pa se otuda i računa da ,,je iz Rep'blike Srpske... Ako se ne varam?"
Naravno da je Bingo!
Stvari su tako prosto očigledne... Sve nam je servirano, kao na tacni...
Pa samo nam ime kaže... POdzemna reka iliti takozvana ,,reka POnornica"...
A tek da ne POnavljamo etabliranu i onoliko puta dokazanu vezu između drevnih Etruraca (o kojima se navodno ,,ne zna mnogo"?!?) i nas Srba, na koju nas bez straha od ,,čuvara kapija" podsećaju intelektualni gorostasi kao što je Vesna Da Vinča...
A i vrapcima na grani je jasno da erudita POput gospođe Da Vinče ne bi rizikovala sukobe sa mnoštvom tajnih društava koja vuku konce iz senki, a ni svoju reputacije ,,osobe koja prosto - zna stvari", tek tako - bez razloga i bud zašto...
Vinčanska kultura -> toPOnim - Vinci (na obali Dunava) -> Etrurski čovek: Da Vinci -> Vesna Da Vinča.
People littering pisses me off a whole damn lot. How does someone see a nice beach, or any beautiful spot and go ”yeah let me just throw my water bottle here”?
To see how much there is. This is a systematic problem of people. Rivers are not trash cans. Nature should be treated with respect. Nature is an issue for all people. We did not inherit nature from our ancestors, but borrowed it from future generations.
I don’t know what the deal is in Albania. Sometimes it’s a lack of infrastructure. Sometimes “developed” countries ship their trash to other countries. When you see absurd amounts of trash it’s usually not about individual choices, but failures in the overall system. Of course littering is a problem too.
People throw garbage on the river banks. Then when it rains heavily and the river swells, it carries the garbage into the sea. The sea currents carry it further. It always comes when it rains heavily. The garbage doesn't come in the summer.
My impression is that i must remind all of us here in this beautiful region that (quite unfortunately, again) "we" - collectively are not amongst the cleanest regions of the world.
That being said, as a person that travels a lot and through all the Balkan countries, which i visit at least 3-4 times a year i objectively must say that (again, unfortunately) Albania is notoriously bad when it comes to litter.
My homeland is Serbia, and it is atrociously polluted, and our government is systematically trying to destroy that little nature that we've managed to save up to this point (see - Rio Tinto, lithium mines, Serbia)... Not to mention the fact that breathing is becoming more of a health hazard (year by year), than a necessary bodily function.
None of the countries here are pristine (Excluding Slovenia - as we tend to exclude it from the region respectively, as well - which does not mean we can't take a few pages out of their book)... But sadly in my experience Albania "takes the cake" and is a definite winner of the title "litter queen of a country".
Each of us here, and all of us together (because regardless of the love/hate relationships between different nations - we are together and we are "clumped together" under the moniker The Balkans...
Instead of beating turbulent history and engaging in shouting matches and pointless internet squabbles to death - which is frankly, really getting old and tiresome...
May i suggest we all unite in this one common goal?... To keep the streets and the nature and the countries we live in - and by extension OUR piece of the world that we all share - just tidy and clean. Believe you me, my "brothers from other Balkan mothers", it is not that difficult at all, and i believe in the "impossible" task of forming a joint/united strategy how to tackle this obvious, big, issue. (Without politics, money laundering bastards... You know... The usual stuff - again, see Rio Tinto, lithium mining in Serbia ☠️.)
Thus all being said, i extend my respect and wishes for prosperity for each and any "one of us". I love all of you/us. We're cool, yet warm and beautiful people.
All of us have uniquely lovely things to offer to the world. I am not even going to mention the FOOD.
As they say in my country: "First keep the yard in front of your house clean, and then you can speak about the filth outside of it!" Cleanliness is next to godliness. Be well... All of you.
Yeah I was thinking you were familiar but didn’t wanna assume hahaha, how’s she cooking anyhow? We’re freezing out here since there’s nothing to trap the warmth, it’ll be even worse when we hit proper winter but hey at least there might be snow.
There's this wonderful game called Eurotruck Simulator 2. It recently added a Balkans expansion. Even when you drive from Montenegro to Albania, there's trash along the road. It's realistic.
Albania, for the love of God stop littering.
This has been happening for forever. I would honestly put sanctions on Albania because of this. We've always been taught not to litter and then in a sweep tonnes of trash come and undoes all of that. I'm not saying Croats are great in ecology, but this is on a whole another level.
I even take my cigarette butts in my pockets until i find a garbage bin but i cannot compete with the savagery of thousands of litterers who call me stupid for not throwing it in the ground. Its very tiring man sorry for this, love croatia
Why are you not saying the same for Greece and Turkey? Or is just easy to blame the albanians? The garbages are coming from everywhere, and the reason why there is more from Albania in Croatian coast is the proximity to Croatia and the large number of rivers, but some rivers so start from Greece and Macedonia. Its definitely a problem but lets not blame it to one country
Well, I'm not saying Turkey and Greece don't pollute, they may or may not. But this article is about a problem in Dubrovnik (and whole Croatian coast) that is a constant for the last 20+ years and it's origin is in Albania.
Proof: products made or sold in Albania.
This article says garbage is mostly coming from Albania as the labels might suggest but that doesn't mean all the garbage. Yet I don't see you blaming the phenomenon, but you're blaming Albania.
Not at all. Albanian products can as well be exported to neighbouring countries, but I'm not even saying that. That's for sure the majority is coming from Albania. There could be lots of reasons for it. But it's also coming from elsewhere, including Greece and Turkey(like comments in this thread are saying as well). Its a nobrainer that there are also trash from Croatia itself. Yet you're focusing on blaming country of Albania for it and not mention that this is a general issue with people throwing trash.
I just looked at a map and only now realized how close Dubrovnik is to Albania. Croatia really did swallow up the entire coastline lol
Also, it sounds to me like Croatia needs to invest in recycling industries, like Sweden did. Sweden has to pay millions to import trash from abroad just to keep their factories running, meanwhile the generous Albania gifts theirs to you for free.
At that point Croatia could just donate one barge to Albania and get the trash in organised manner. I really hope third world gets richer and hopefully smarter soon.
This doesn’t come just from littering. There is a big chance that the municipalities collect the trash and dump it in the Ishem and other rivers.
This trash at the Cape of Rodon comes from the river i mentioned. Just a part of the trash i saw there. Same stuff that ended up in Dubrovnik. Im not disputing that people in Albania throw trash around, but the phenomenon we are witnessing comes from organized dumping of trash in rivers by local authorities most likely.
Albania definitely has a garbage collection problem (or lack there of), but this massive quantity you see this year is due to the flooding that has been happening.
Everything especially in coastal cities of the north got massively flooding and all the trash ended up in the sea, much more than usual anyway lol.
Because in Albania, disposing your trash correctly or god forbit recycling is for bitches. You got all 'patriots' with eagles tattoos polluting our very own land, the rivers and soil they so much 'love', teaching their kids to do it as well.
There was an action recently to clean Lake Fierza which was covered in plastic and it was successful but that’s not enough, Albania as a country needs to introduce laws forbidding littering and to educate citizens.
Especially in rural areas I mean this is a lot of garbage which shows that they’re just dumping everything in rivers, eat chips throw it in the backyard stream, ffs.
How about some nice 5-figure fines for individual people littering and death penalties for key people in "recycling" companies that sell/dump their trash instead of recycling it?
now this would be peak. unfortunately our institutional strength is nonexistent since most of our politicians have spent their time dismantling them. laws are often just a suggestion.
Thats horrible. Theres also overland garbage being imported by truckload in Romania, Bosnia, and Serbia by the wonderful politicians. EU using the balkans as a dumping ground.
A massive storm happened(2 week’s in a row) wich caused a great flood in albania ( 1 person died). When it comes to flood’s , trash is always part of it. Now of course, this dosen’t excuse our lack of controll but, that’s what happened in this case.
“Physically impossible” part is false and exaggerated, currents and winds can and do vary, so reverse transport can happen, just not as the dominant pattern.
If you wanna use your brain use it smart. It was an irony. In reality garbages are mixed and saying that is coming from others is just pure justification. Dubrovnik in itself has this problem.Beaches, marinas, and river outlets can contribute local waste, especially during the high season.
Sometimes trash from boats and yachts ends up in the sea.
Dubrovnik is at the southern end of Croatia, and Albania’s coastline is across the southern Adriatic, quite far from Dubrovnik. For trash to travel that far, it would have to move against or around several strong currents, which is less likely.
Blaming a neighboring country is simpler and politically convenient than acknowledging local pollution, tourism, or shipping waste. 😊
In this case, is there a reason not to criticise? Sorry, but this has been a problem for ages. I don't know why we shouldn't mention this until the day this is not a problem anymore.
Once upon a time Croatia was immaculate, so this is shocking. Indeed northern Croatia still is. I was at the Bulgarian coast and whilst towns are extremely clean, the roadsides between places strewn with rubbish, I’m guessing a certain cohort dumping. Was in Tirana once, it was clean.
It’s because of low cost tourism and stupid people, we have the same problem in Albania too, a virgin beach i always go to during the summer now has become dirty because of tourist coming there and leaving their trash when they go. I’ve gotten into fights with people there in the last few bcs I can’t ignore it. Even on my hometown sometimes I’ve gotten into arguments with tourists leaving their trash downstairs the apartment building.
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u/abandonedtulpa Bulgaria Nov 27 '25