No more dumping as of 2006
Aluminium of Greece (AoG) appears willing to switch over to land-based waste treatment, despite its permit from the state to continue dumping into the sea until 2011. However, there is a risk that this might not be feasible. «By the end of 2005, half of the waste will be redirected to land-based management; by the end of 2006, all dumping into the sea will stop,» said AoG’s Dimitris Boufounos. «Investment in the required filtering equipment is already under way,» he added. The firm appears to have reached agreements on distributing the material to the cement industry, and for the construction of road embankments, tile and brick manufacturing, the filling in of waste dumps and old mines. Even so, environmental groups are asking whether the seabed will be cleaned. Patras University’s Professor Papatheodorou says this should and can be done, although the firm has ruled it out.
