EU keeps close eye on waste projects
The European Commission says Greece needs to clean up its waste management programs or risk losing EU funding, sources told Kathimerini yesterday. A Brussels inspection team in Athens last week informed local officials that they need to reduce the waste produced by Athenians and improve recycling rates. Sources added that last week’s visit confirms that Greece is being closely supervised on its waste management systems. Meanwhile, the Union of Municipal Authorities in Attica (ESDKNA) said yesterday that the city has three months to find another solution to its garbage problems. ESDKNA president Giorgos Mastorakos said that if direct action is not immediately taken then Athenians will end up «drowning» in their own trash. He also ruled out the possibility of launching any new schemes to burn rubbish. «At the present phase, it is not possible to create an incineration plant. At the recycling plant which operates in Ano Liosia, 1,200 tons are being managed, of which 20 to 25 percent end up in the landfill,» he said. Athens’s landfill in Ano Liosia has reached capacity recently and authorities have started dumping the city’s 6,500 tons of daily rubbish in a nearby Fyli landfill. The Fyli dump will be able to accept rubbish for another three months, added Mastorakos.
