A tree covered by rubish on Tirana river near Tirana International Airport on January 2018. Photo: Gjergj Erebara/BIRN

Croatian Foreign Minister Marija Pejcinovic Buric signed an agreement with a UN representative in Albania Brian Williams to help a project to fight marine pollution, in the presence of Albanian Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati and Minister of Tourism, Blendi Klosi.

Would-be EU member Albania has a huge problem with waste collection, which is often just dumped in rivers. From there, countless plastic objects such as bottles flow into the Adriatic Sea.

Minister Klosi recently announced another attempt to clean up Albania. However, Albania’s government has been criticised for not doing enough to built a national system of waste collection and recycling.

Plastic waste floating down Albanian rivers into the Adriatic Sea has been washing up in force on Croatian beaches lately, more than hundred kilometers to the north, damaging Croatia’s important tourism industry.

On Thursday, a Croat, Antun Poljanic published 22 photos on Facebook of the plastic invasion in southern Croatia.