Πέμπτη 28.03.2024 ΚΕΡΚΥΡΑ

Meropi Ydraiou presents new site recycle.corfu.gr - The key to success will be public participation

recycling
31 Μαρτίου 2021 / 16:44

CORFU. The site will give information about recyclable materials and have a map of locations where these can be taken.

Central Corfu & Diapontia Islands Mayor Meropi Ydraiou presented recycle.corfu.gr, a website dedicated to alternative waste management, at a press conference yesterday.

Ms. Ydraiou talked about the local authority's goals as regards recycling along with the Deputy Mayors for Cleansing Yiannis Seremetis and European Programmes, Development and Digital Governance Panayiota Tzanne.

The site recycle.corfu.gr is part of the overall changes to the Municipality's site and has had over 50,000 visitors since it came online.

The new site is a guide to alternative waste management in the Central Corfu Municipality and up to now 15 categories of recyclable materials have been included. Visitors can learn about recyclable materials and there is a map with the locations where these can be taken. The site is user-friendly and easily navigated and can be a useful tool if members of the public participate. It is also available in English.

Meropi Ydraiou - The key to success will be public participation

The Mayor expressed her satisfaction with the new site and said that it was part of the general effort to modernise the Municipality. She pointed out that Central Corfu & Diapontia Islands Municipality is one of the few municipalities to have a special online platform for recycling and called on all members of the public to take part. Ms. Ydraiou said that greater awareness is needed so that the public can cooperate with the municipality and even more recycling streams can be created so that we can achieve our goal of a green, clean and modern Corfu. She thanked the two Deputy Mayors and their departments for their efforts.

Yiannis Seremetis - More streams by the end of the year

Deputy Mayor for Cleansing Yiannis Seremetis stressed that local authority efforts, infrastructure and equipment for cleansing and recycling were not enough on their own and that greater public awareness was required. He said that recycling is directly linked to public participation and only in this way can we have positive results.

Mr. Seremetis called on members of the public to take part and underlined that greater awareness is required. He said that the efforts being made must not be hampered by people dumping mixed waste in the blue bins and added that more recycling streams will have been added by the end of the year. Cooperation between the municipal services and the public can lead to a significant increase in the percentage of waste recycled.

The Deputy Mayor said that it was not acceptable in a developed state - and in this case the Municipality - for citizens to pay taxes and yet to rely on volunteers to cover the specific need. He said that this is the work of the municipal services and that they will do it to the best of their ability and that voluntary work can be used in an auxiliary way only if it is necessary.

Panayiota Tzanne - Towards a digital age

The Deputy Mayor for European Programmes, Development and Digital Governance Panayiota Tzanne thanked the Municipal Programming Department and the contractor for their collaboration in creating the three 'digital brands' for the municipality - corfu.gr, recycle.corfu.gr and visit.corfu.gr - and said that the recycling platform was part of the municipality's participation in the European Commission '100 Intelligent Cities Challenge - ICC' programme. It is a reference point for the municipality's participation and progress in the programme.

Ms. Tzanne said that the aim is to utilise as many modern digital means as possible in the provision of municipal services to the public and it seems that this is being achieved in comparison to how it found the situation and the operation of the website when it came to office.

She added that the overall objective is to convert the municipality into a Smart Municipality and that very shortly the third platform - for tourism - will be made available.

Consultant to the Municipality and circular economy expert Viktoras Dimoulis presented the recycle.corfu.gr site, which is connected to the European ICC official site; the public service Novoville platform; the online platform for giving/exchanging electrical and electronic appliances; the recycling reward platform Followgreen and, of course, the municipality's official website.

At the moment, 15 recycling streams have been included in the site - excavation, construction and demolition waste, lubrication oil, cigarette butts, glass, ink cartridges, tyres, light bulbs, large and small electronic and electrical appliances, metals, batteries, plastic, paper, vehicles at the end of life and medicines.

More information is available on the site - recycle.corfu.gr.