Pledges for six new Attica landfills

Regional governor promises to tackle problem as new trash crisis grows on Corfu

As the cleanup of tons of trash from the streets of Athens gathered pace yesterday, Attica Regional Governor Rena Dourou pledged to create six new waste management sites, but provided no details about the timing of the projects nor their planned locations.

Dourou vowed to create the new sites during a tense session of the regional council as residents of Fyli, where the capital’s main landfill is located, were in attendance and demanding answers from Dourou who, prior to her election as governor, had promised to close down the long-saturated landfill.

“We did not come to have a little chat, we came to hear solutions,” one angry resident told the council meeting.

Aristides Vroustis, regional councillor and a member of the local government body responsible for waste management (EDSNA), said that mayors should be obliged to boost recycling in order to reduce the volume of trash going to the Fyli landfill, which last week literally cracked from overloading. Municipalities that do not actively promote recycling should pay a penalty, Vroustis added.

Meanwhile, a new trash crisis is burgeoning on the Ionian island of Corfu, a popular resort for foreign tourists bracing for peak season.

Similar problems with waste management there have led to garbage building up in the streets for months, prompting complaints by professionals in the tourism sector. The British tour operator ABTA said some of its customers had canceled or shortened their vacations because of the problem.

A landfill set up years ago in Lefkimi, in the south of the island, has yet to be used due to vehement protests by local residents.