“Scavenger Hunters: Kosovo’s Exploited Scrap Collectors”, 11 Feb 2019

Twelve-year-old Resmije…, [tears] open bags of household waste and rotting food, she plucks out anything of value: plastic bottles, soft drink cans, electric cables…For thousands of informal workers in Kosovo’s booming trade in recyclable materials, a handful of euros is all they can expect for a full day’s work, …[selling]…[whatever] they [can] salvage to middlemen at neighbourhood collection points...

Kosovo has no public recycling programme…[but], [w]orth on average more than 40 million euros a year, scrap material for recycling is Kosovo’s number one export, according to customs data. It is an industry built on the backs of desperately poor communities — especially marginalised RAE — Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian. Elizabeth Gowing, head of the Ideas Partnership, a Pristina-based minority rights group, described the scrap trade as a vicious circle that ensnares generations. Hilmi Jashari, Kosovo’s independent ombudsman, said the plight of child scrap collectors poses serious human rights challenges…Last year, a 24-year old scrap collector, died after he was hit by a bulldozer while trespassing on a landfill [and] a seven-year-old Roma boy…was mauled to death by a dog while collecting…in 2014.  Most scrap collectors work long hours without…protective equipment…The ministry of labour and welfare did not respond to interview requests…

[Penalties] for running [illegal] waste management facilities…include fines...Everybody involved in the transactions declined to comment, [but] ...a kilogram of iron typically fetches 16 cents while the same amount of plastic gets 12 cents…The customs data [does] not include the names of exporting companies…but a[n] investigation by Preportr…identified more than 60 firms involved...[t]he biggest being…Nderimi. Nderimi did not respond to…requests for an interview, [but]...did confirm...that the company buys scrap from both individual scavengers and collection points. [Nderimi] sells scrap to Kurum International, a Turkish maker of steel and iron products for the construction industry,…based in Albania. Kurum did not respond…