Halandri leading the way with 80% recycling
recycling
12 Jan 2020
/ 10:27
ATHENS. The most decisive step that Halandri Municipality took regarding recycling and sorting at source was to use brown bins to collect food waste.
In December 2019 a survey was carried out at 8 locations in the Municipality of Halandri in Athens and the percentage of waste being recycled was found to be an amazing 80%. At these locations there were three bins - green, blue and yellow.
This is a result of the 'local waste management plan' which was set up in 2015 by the Municipal Councillor responsible for Recycling Gerasimos Liberatos - a professor at the Athens Metsovio Polytechnic. The first goal of the plan was to change the ratio of green bins to blue bins, which at that time was 3:1.
An interesting innovation was the creation of a separate stream for paper and cardboard after it was discovered that most of the waste was made up of those materials.
The most decisive step that Halandri Municipality took regarding recycling and sorting at source was to use brown bins to collect food waste.
There were 800 volunteers in the European programme set up by the Municipality, who were given bins and keys. Councillor Gerasimos Liberatos said that the results were impressive - 50% of food waste was collected in the brown bins. This is not, however, where the use of the brown bins ends - it also contributes to the circular economy. The local authority, having dried and separated the waste, sends it to the Polytechnic, where biogas is produced which is purified and compressed and then used as fuel for the Municipal refuse trucks.
It may be thought that there is a financial cost to the implementation of the local waste management plan but Gerasimos Liberatos points out that when the local authority began its term in office there was a balance of 13m Euros and now, having renewed and updated the necessary equipment for waste management, the balance stands at 17m.
When asked what the secret to their success is, Mr. Liberatos says: "The credit belongs, first and foremost, to the residents of Halandri. What we have demonstrated is that their environmental awareness is no less than any other Europeans. If they are given the proper infrastructure and information, they respond magnificently."
This is a result of the 'local waste management plan' which was set up in 2015 by the Municipal Councillor responsible for Recycling Gerasimos Liberatos - a professor at the Athens Metsovio Polytechnic. The first goal of the plan was to change the ratio of green bins to blue bins, which at that time was 3:1.
An interesting innovation was the creation of a separate stream for paper and cardboard after it was discovered that most of the waste was made up of those materials.
The most decisive step that Halandri Municipality took regarding recycling and sorting at source was to use brown bins to collect food waste.
There were 800 volunteers in the European programme set up by the Municipality, who were given bins and keys. Councillor Gerasimos Liberatos said that the results were impressive - 50% of food waste was collected in the brown bins. This is not, however, where the use of the brown bins ends - it also contributes to the circular economy. The local authority, having dried and separated the waste, sends it to the Polytechnic, where biogas is produced which is purified and compressed and then used as fuel for the Municipal refuse trucks.
It may be thought that there is a financial cost to the implementation of the local waste management plan but Gerasimos Liberatos points out that when the local authority began its term in office there was a balance of 13m Euros and now, having renewed and updated the necessary equipment for waste management, the balance stands at 17m.
When asked what the secret to their success is, Mr. Liberatos says: "The credit belongs, first and foremost, to the residents of Halandri. What we have demonstrated is that their environmental awareness is no less than any other Europeans. If they are given the proper infrastructure and information, they respond magnificently."
