Greece has pledged that the 2004 Olympic Games will be environmentally friendly. It is estimated that by that year tens of municipalities all over the country will have state-of-the-art collection and recycling facilities, while an increasing number of measures will have been implemented in order to realize this 'green dream'.
In the meantime, the Athens 2004 waste management and recycling programme claims to have recycled over 30 tons of paper since the Olympic project began. What's more, on many Olympic building projects trees are being transplanted rather than cut down; over 600 olive trees, for instance, were transplanted from the equestrian centre - currently under construction in the east Attica area of Markopoulo - to nurseries in Marathon whence they will be replanted at various Olympic sites.
The recycling riddle
The process of recycling in Athens has undergone several changes since bill 2939/01 was passed in July 2001. In accordance with European Union directives set in 1994, the bill obliges all companies to pay the equivalent recovery and recycling costs for their products packaging (the system is based on measuring the bulk and weight of products sold as well as the value of the goods themselves). Thus necessary funds are made available for local authorities to either hire recovery servers or implement the recovery of recyclable refuse themselves.
Moreover, manufactures are compelled to create packaging that is recycling friendly - for instance, water has to be bottled in either glass or PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic, which is the most simple to recycle. Another consequence of the new law is that private companies are urged to collaborate with recovery agencies, bidding for licenses to collect their own disposed packaging - chiefly cardboard and plastics used for carrying goods to supermarkets along with plastics containing oils for motor vehicles.
Sorting things out
The anticipated completion of a mechanical sorting plant in Ano Liossia, in western Athens, will make a tremendous difference. The plant, with a sorting capacity of 1,200 tons of refuse daily (roughly one third of the 4,500-ton daily production) utilizes magnets for metals and other computerized technologies for varying materials thus guaranteeing a quick and economical process.
What's more, citizens will not have to use different sorting bins for their rubbish and the recyclable material will be sent from a single point to the respective recycling plants. On the downside, much material will be too soiled (dirty) to be recycled. Also, due to the complex nature of plastics it is very difficult to recycle, one wrong combination in the process can ruin the whole batch.
The best solution, however, is still rubbish separation at the source, i.e. in the household. Statistics reveal that Greeks are not averse to separating their rubbish for this purpose. What is vital, though, is proper education and advice on the process of recycling, a task undertaken by such NGOs as the Ecological Recycling Society (ERS), Clean up Greece and the Goulandris Gaia Centre.
Their aim is to raise awareness on recycling issues, be it through general campaigns or open discussions at schools. "Our research has shown, that people are very willing to separate materials for recycling, what is needed are more bins and better information," states Philippos Kirkitsos, the director of ERS. It must be noted that since November 2001 and besides the more traditional recycling options, the ERS, in collaboration with the Nea Smyrni Municipality, has been recycling personal computers, which contain dangerous toxic ingredients.
