Tiny isle is all in on sustainability
When deciding where to test green tech, Greek policy- makers picked the remotest point on the map: tiny Tilos.
Providing electricity and basic services, and even access by ferry, are all a challenge for this island of just 500 year-round inhabitants. Its most recent problem has been dealing with plastic.
But authorities this week announced that more than 80 per cent of Tilos’ trash is now being recycled. A landfill where untreated garbage was once buried in a hillside has been permanently closed.
The island has already been producing most of its own electricity since 2019, using a solar park and a wind turbine hooked up to trailer-sized batteries that main- tain an uninterrupted supply.
S-shaped and slightly larger than Manhattan, Tilos is a far-flung member of an island chain in the southeast Aegean Sea, where most beaches are empty, goats roam next to centuries-old churches and the moun- tains smell of wild oregano. At the main port, electric vehicles hum past tourists, transporting goods. Solar panels power bus stop information boards and a ramp that gives people with disabilities access to the sea.
Mayor Maria Kamma-Aliferi said Tilos’ dwindling population added urgency to making changes. “In the 1990s, there were 270 people left on this island. There were very few births. The school was in danger of closing because it had so few kids — I was one of them,” she said.
But the mayor stayed on the island and took universi- ty correspondence courses to put herself through busi- ness school and learn about public administration.
With tourism in the Mediterranean set to rebound this summer after the worst of the pandemic, many Greek islands face an urgent strain on their resources: a lack of drinking water and a reliance on diesel to produce electricity as energy prices continue to soar.
Tilos is expecting 30,000 visitors this summer, while the nearby island of Rhodes is set to receive more than two million by air alone.
Starting in December, Tilos piloted a home trash pickup scheme, with residents handed recycling kits and asked to wash and separate household waste.
“It’s working. We started with 10 houses and we’re now up to more than 400,” said Athanasios Polychro- nopoulos, who heads a Greek recycling firm, Poly- green, that offered the service for free, hoping to ex- pand its model.
“This is an island community that’s open to change.”