Greece invests in the environment, but is still at the bottom of Europe for waste, with around 79% of this still ending up in landfill. According to the president ofAssociation of recycling and energy recovery industries and companies (Sepan) of the country, Lena Belsithe main causes are cultural but also economic in nature.
Radical beliefs and cultural models are always difficult to change: if the majority of people are convinced that throwing waste in the unsorted container is the solution, and that this is enough, it is complicated and very costly to convince everyone otherwise. But it is even more complicated if we add to this completely insufficient disincentive policies.
Landfilling is the simplest and least expensive solution in Greece – Belsi explains to Euronews – the special tax for disposal is still very low, around 35 euros per ton, while in countries like Italy it exceeds 100 euros. Elsewhere, these taxes have prompted more recycling. Here, however, they still make landfill convenient
The Association’s data, unfortunately, speak clearly: Greece is far from the expected objectives, in a Europe that is decidedly further ahead in the race (Italy is also among the virtuous countries, which in 2023, the latest data available, had achieved an average of 66% of separate waste collection).
In fact, as reported in the latest Sepan report, the Greek government has defined an ambitious Green Agenda, which aims for climate neutrality by 2050 and the promotion of the principles of the circular economy.
Furthermore the National Waste Management Plan (PNR) 2020-2030 sets a maximum limit of 10% to the quantity of municipal waste sent to landfill by 2030 (5 years before the 2035 deadline set by the EU Directive), and in detail:
We are in 2025 and unfortunately the situation does not seem to be going in the right direction, with Athens in a real emergency with just 15% of waste “saved” from landfill, well below the European average.
In the Hellenic capital, the Fili landfill, active for over twenty years, receives around 90 percent of the metropolitan area’s waste, therefore now saturated and now considered an environmental and social bomb. The lack of alternative infrastructures and delays in the construction of new plants complete a picture that has already reached the limits of an environmental emergency.
This is despite the country’s objective and huge investments in favor of environmental policies, for example with the Fund for the Decarbonisation of the Islands, with a budget of 1.6 billion euros which could reach 3.8 billion by 2032, which aims for 100% renewables in all the islands of the country.
When the economic disincentive could, perhaps, change the culture of a society, we could say.
