Santorini will try a different approach to the issue of waste management in the coming years, starting in 2023. The first step will be to activate an “intermediate solution” for the next 2-3 years, so the construction of a new landfill site can proceed. The second step is the creation of a large waste management unit in partnership with a private company, which will include the management of composites, the sorting of recyclables, the composting of organic waste and the construction of foundries. To that end, the municipality does not hide its preference for “heat treatment” (i.e. incinerators), arguing that it is the only way to manage the huge amount of waste produced on the island.

Earlier this week, the government approved the tender through a private-public partnership (PPP) for a “complete waste treatment plant” for Santorini. The project includes a mixed waste treatment plant, a recyclable waste treatment plant, a pre-selected organic composting plant and a 20-year-old foundry. This will be the first project of its kind in the Cyclades (the other five units that have been built in partnership with an individual are located in Western Macedonia, Serres, Epirus, Ilia and the Peloponnese Region, while another is being launched in Rhodes). The annual capacity of all facilities is estimated to be 26,000 tons per year, plus 1,500 tons of sewage sludge.

How will the project be done? The implementing body will be the Special Regional Interdepartmental Solid Waste Body of the Prefecture of the Aegean, the collective body that, by law (Law 4685/20), replaced the local waste management bodies that existed on some islands of the Cyclades and the Dodecanese. This body will have to secure the required environmental permits and finalize the location of the waste units and the landfill, something that is not easy on an island with such limited space and high land values ​​as Santorini. However, the new facilities will be established at the existing site. The tender will be announced in 3-4 months, and a contractor finalized in 2.5 years. The financial contribution of the state is estimated at 8.5 million euros and that of the private company at 33.7 million euros, however these amounts will be the subject of the tender.

Although the tender will be free to select the use of technologies, the municipality has requested that incineration be an option, the residue from which could be used for energy production. “Only in this way will we be able to achieve the national goals,” says mayor Antonis Sigalas. “We have visited such units in other countries and we want a similar one to be built as an example. This is something we want to do.”

Securing resources

For the period until the construction and operation of the new unit, the municipality promises to launch an intermediate solution and to restore the current landfill. “We have secured 4 million euros for the rehabilitation of the landfill and the intermediate solution, for which the way is opened with the approval of the PPP. We will compost with mobile installations, the material of which will be used for the restoration and the residue will be baled on the spot, so that it can be managed later by the new unit,” says Mr. Sigalas. “We have also secured 2 million euros for bins for separate sorting, in addition to the brown bins and the purchase of mobile green recycling points. We believe that in 2023, with the operation of the intermediate solution and the reactivation of the “Plastic Free Santorini” program (in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism), we will begin to see the first signs of change.”

New lawsuit for the “Sea Diamond”

A new legal appeal for the raising of the sunken cruise liner the MS Sea Diamond has been announced by the Coordinating Committee of Thera Citizens. Following the rejection, last July, of an appeal by the Municipality of Thera by the Piraeus Court of Appeal arguing that it is not legal for a local government organization to claim the salvage, the committee announced its decision to claim the same through the courts. “In a few days we will end the 15-year stay of the Sea Diamond in the blue waters of our caldera, fifteen years of continuous pollution and political inactivity, fifteen years of criminal indifference to the unique natural environment of Santorini,” notes the Coordinating Committee Lifting of the Sea Diamond JV.

This article was previously published in Greek at kathimerini.gr.