Oct. 6, 2009
The Bajza Railway Station in Albania's Shkodra region is finally free of pesticides and hazardous chemicals that have contaminated the site for more than 18 years.
Clean-up efforts were made possible through a joint project of the Dutch government and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in collaboration with the Albanian government. The project, with the initial aim of cleaning the entire station vicinity, started in February 2008.
Over a 17-month period, a British company has collected 12 tonnes of chemicals and six tons of chemical compounds and leather at the Bajza site, storing them specially constructed containers. The contaminants are to be transported to the United Kingdom, where they will be destroyed.
Bajza has long been one of Albania's most troublesome environmental hot spots. The problem began in 1991 when a train loaded with 480 tonnes of hazardous chemicals en route from Germany was parked indefinitely at the railway station.
After a media backlash, the train was turned back to Germany, but the chemical containers left behind began to have severe environmental and health impacts. Some local inhabitants used the emptied plastic containers for drinking water, while other chemicals contaminated the land around the station, eventually seeping underground and contributing to the outbreak of several diseases.
Continued media pressure and local protests resulted in the creation of two large storage areas for the remaining chemicals, as well as a plan for definitively cleaning up the area. And, as of September 2009, Albanians living near Bajza Railway Station can now breathe a little easier.
