Mounting trash causes outcry on Samothrace
Nikolaos Zambounidis, prefect of Evros, yesterday pleaded with the government for a state of emergency to be declared on Samothrace, as household waste has not been collected on the northern Aegean island for 45 days. Piles of garbage are accumulating on the island’s streets due to legal action by residents who want to pressure the local authority to construct two landfills in Evros and Kavala rather than keep dumping trash in an illegal dump on Samothrace. Zambounidis said that the case will not be heard until November 26 and the island already has a serious hygiene problem. «The decision will not be issued immediately. It will take another week or 10 days,» he said. «It is impossible for the island to remain in this state for another 20 days.» There were four illegal dumps on Samothrace but three were shut down in 2005, leaving just one in Therma.
