Introduction
The overproduction of solid waste is a – to a large extent – an inevitable consequence of the production and consumption processes in modern societies.
The reduction of the amount of waste produced is, therefore, the stable long-term goal towards which the efforts of the state should be directed, through the gradual restructuring of the practices and behaviors of producers and consumers. In the short term, however, and together with this goal, all necessary measures should be taken for the rational management of waste, so as to save natural resources and avoid the adverse effects of their disposal on the natural environment.
Our aim is to maximize recycling
The systematic development of recycling with sorting at the source (as a system of: (a) institutions, (b) implementation mechanisms and (c) technologies) in packaging materials, as well as in waste other than packaging, such as end-of-life vehicles, discarded electrical and electronic equipment, spent accumulators and batteries, used mineral oils, inert solid waste, old tires, printed paper, etc.
Brief History
In the 1980s, the illegal Uncontrolled Waste Disposal Site (ΧΑΔΑ) began operating on Patmos in the Peristeronas-Fikio area.
For decades, all kinds of waste, domestic, industrial, medical-chemical, were deposited in the said landfill. Because the volume of all this waste was enormous, the respective municipal authority deemed it appropriate to burn it, so what existed on the island for decades was a permanent furnace, lit! All residents and visitors of the island inhaled all kinds of chemicals on a permanent basis. A small group of active citizens deemed it appropriate to resort to appealing to the court for the illegal landfill. After 15-20 days in the courtrooms, they managed to enforce the closure of the landfill and pressure the Municipal Authority of Patmos to find a solution.
The Municipal Authority decided that the solution was to create another landfill (Sanitary Waste Landfill). Although these landfills were by now obsolete, a point that the group of citizens pointed out many times to the Municipal Authorities, the Municipal Council at the time nevertheless decided to build it in Patmos. In other words, while these projects had already seized being built nationwide, our municipality, aided by the unclear legal regime (which should not have permitted the construction of the landfill) secured funding and built the landfill, as it were. Before its ”legal” operation, however, the old landfill had to be restored. From what we learned at the time, an inspection unit had visited, where, with two drilling holes in the landfill site, it decided that everything was in order. According to our information not even a single gram of the waste that the landfill contained was removed from the area in question, meaning that no restoration was carried out!
Approximately 3 years ago, the current landfill began operating, with a projected lifespan of 20 years, provided that there would be waste separation and compression with a high-pressure press of the remainder, followed by sanitary landfilling.
The landfill in question does not have a press. Our municipal authorities probably decided that compressing 1/10 of the waste was not necessary, as well as separating it. The waste is buried uncompressed, thus occupying 10 times more space, resulting in currently being already about 50% saturated, so the 20-year period has already been shorted to 6-7 years, at most.
Furthermore, in the area in question and within a radius of more than 1000 meters, there lies scattered waste of all kinds, in a ”loving” cooperation with the rest of the landfill waste. The road and the wider area towards the landfill is full of all kinds of ”goodies”: building rubble, metal structures, plastic objects, household items of all kinds, car tires, old cars, mattresses, tree prunings, wooden pallets and anything else imaginable.
However, the fencing of the area, which is very limited or non-existent, has resulted in the release, with great ease, of all kinds of plastic and paper objects that end up on the adjacent beaches. The beaches and seabed of Fikios and Merikas now ”host” all kinds of waste, from household items to countless plastic bags and bottles, car tires, etc.
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