As residents of the island of Salamina and Piraeus’s coastal district of Perama continued to be plagued by the stench of 25,000 accumulated tons of untreated sludge on the nearby islet of Psytalleia, Environment and Public Works Minister Vasso Papandreou yesterday presented plans for the second building phase of the Psytalleia plant that has been treating Attica’s sewage for the past seven years.

The sludge has been collecting since a mountain of trash collapsed at the Ano Liosia landfill site, after which the local authorities refused to allow any more waste to be taken there — including the sludge.

Papandreou said Greece has applied to the EU for increased funding to construct an additional plant for drying the sludge, expected to cost 40 million euros. At the moment Psytalleia produces 300 cubic meters of dried sludge daily, while after completion of the second construction phase, it will produce 800 cubic meters daily while treating close to a million cubic meters of sewage each day.