An endless and ugly landfill
Every time a location is designated for a new landfill, the announcement is followed by a chorus of adversity so vehement that it occasionally leads to violence. The arguments of the naysayers are always the same, that the dump is in an area of «rare natural beauty» or right beside an important archaeological site. Greece is an endless archaeological site and, once upon a time, nearly every corner of the country was a place of rare natural beauty. These same corners are now being drowned in garbage. Meanwhile, what is surprising is that no one seems to have come out in protest at the 1,500 illegal garbage dumps being operated by municipalities all around the country, while so many revolt against the construction of a proper, legal site. The fact is that the countdown has already started. Monitors from the European Union will be arriving in Greece in one year’s time and every single illegal landfill will cost the country millions of euros on an annual basis. If we continue in this same vein, the entire country will end up looking like a landfill and paying some 1.5 billion euros in fines. Is this in the country’s interest?
