Just like NYC

Garbage collection and disposal in Tirana is very similar to the one in Italy, except that there is no recycling program in effect as far as I know in Albania.
This will follow in due time, I am sure, just like the modernization of today's collection has taken place. The change in equipment used a few years ago, which I described and photographed in my original blog entries on this subject is striking.

The dumping is done into large metal bins, which are religiously emptied by appropriate, modern garbage trucks during the night hours. In my area this usually happens between 12:30 and 1AM. It's also interesting to note that a crew on foot follows the truck to sweep up any indidental left overs that may fall onto the street during the mechanical empting operation. An hour or so later other city trucks make the rounds to water down the streets, thus by 4am the major thoroughfares of Tirana are nice and clean.

The garbage bins, unfortunately, are an open invitation to poor people, who persistently explore them, and, in a way, they actually perform their own differentiation.

In NYC similar actions are taken, although the setup is a bit cleaner because the sifting through is done by opening the plastic bags placed for collection outside each building. Their color identifies their content; thus, these people make sistematic rounds, and quickly collect plastic bottles, and metal cans, which they can return to stores in exchange for a small refund (equal to the original deposit fee paid by the shopper).

Another sight in Tirana that is very similar to NYC and, for that matter, also in many other cities around the world, is the presence, here and there, of what we call 'bag people'. They live on the streets and sleep wherever they can, depending on weather conditions.

I noticed the one above in a corner of an old building right below me, when I looked out of my balcony the other day. And today another person joined him in the same spot.