Second Round of OSPA Monitoring in Elbasan!

Second Round of OSPA Monitoring in Elbasan!

Last month, in cooperation with the Association of Sport and Tourism in Elbasan, we carried out the second round of OSPA monitoring activity — and it was a great success!

The Municipality of Elbasan, with the active participation of the Mayor and municipal staff, played a key role in this event. They worked closely with schools and local communities, engaging students to be part of the monitoring process — not only today, but also in the future.

The involvement of students turned the monitoring into a hands-on environmental education experience, showing how collaboration between local government, schools, and civil society can inspire the next generation to care for our rivers and environment.

This monitoring follows the OSPAR methodology, based on citizen science. It empowers citizens, students, and institutions to actively contribute to environmental data collection, making the process transparent, participatory, and impactful.

The activity was not only about monitoring — it also combined data collection with a clean-up action, raising citizen awareness and encouraging advocacy for stronger measures to prevent river pollution, especially from single-use plastics.

The methodology follows a clear protocol:

• Collecting plastic waste along a defined river segment

• Sorting the waste by type

• Weighing and recording the quantities

• Building data tables for analysis

• Finalizing monitoring reports at selected points, repeated across all four seasons of the year

The STA staff will soon share the detailed report.

Next mission: Librazhd! We’re excited to continue this important work at the next monitoring point, and to carry out the monitoring protocol across all four seasons of the year.