By IPS Correspondents
ATHENS, Jul 23 2007 (IPS)

Household waste recycling is on the rise in Greece but there is still a long way to go before the cleanup is complete.

Credit: Evan Schneider/UN Photo

The 2006 report of the Hellenic Recovery Recycling Corporation (HERRCO) suggests that recycling of household waste has risen considerably, although no comparative figures with 2005 are available. HERRCO is a non-profit making company funded by industrial and commercial companies.

The blue dumpster bins are meant for recycling of domestic waste and packaging. But the recycling has gone beyond household waste. In cooperation with 337 municipalities, more than 25,000 bins have been placed on streets around the country.

This is five times the number of bins available in 2004, and signals a drive forward in advertising a new environmental culture in a country which has been seen to lag behind its European counterparts.

"With regard to the expansion of the programme, we are indeed interested in spreading further our presence in Greece," a spokesperson for HERRCO told IPS. "However in order for this to become a reality, the interest of the local authorities is a pre-requisite, since all of our blue-bin recycling programmes operate with the cooperation of each respective municipality."

Aside from equipment, HERRCO believes it can make a further difference by using information as a tool.

"Education is an area we are working on to encourage citizens to partake in local campaigns in the community," the spokesperson said. "We have distributed door-to-door reusable bags, so each household can manage its waste, but we also provide an information leaflet, advertisements and local community workshops where we invite people to take part in the programme."

Along with households, industry has improved its act; 186,500 tonnes of materials were recycled last year, HERRCO&#39s 2006 report says, besides 50,350 tonnes of household waste.

Other measures have had effect. Under a 2001 law all companies that import and distribute packaged product to the domestic market must secure collection and recycling of materials that pass through. This is a system now supported by 1,100 companies including the larger producers and distributors in the country.

Illegal landfills are a current thorn in the side of the waste programme. Several other EU countries such as Britain have had difficulties with this. Landfills are areas where vast amounts of rubbish are disposed of, but permission needs to be granted on how much can be dumped, and what can be dumped.

There has been an increase in the reporting of illegal landfills; the EU can step in to take court action on this if it must. But a developed EU-wide waste management system has yet to be achieved.

"Comparisons are difficult as we do not have a given set of indicators to decide who has been a &#39good&#39 and a &#39bad pupil&#39," European Commission spokesperson Barbara Helffrich told IPS. "Greece has its own problems but there has been a period of economic growth over the last decade, and that has added to the current problems."

The EU has set a number of specific recycling targets. Under these, 60 percent of household waste, glass, paper and board, 50 percent of metals, 22.5 percent of plastics, and 15 percent of wood must be recycled by 2011.

Greece has met earlier EU targets such as the packaging waste directive under which 25 percent of all packaging waste by weight had be recycled by the end of 2005. In a further example of progress, according to data sent to the European Commission, the level of glass recycling has improved to 35 percent in 2004, although it is still unclear if Greece will meet the 2011 target.

A European Commission directive allows it to take measures that can result in loss of European funds for non-compliance. But it also offers help in achieving the targets.

"Greece, like other countries will have to submit waste management reports and plans, and there will be continuous discourse with us on how to improve and where they are going wrong to meet the level of expectations," Helffrich said.

(*This story is part of a series of features on sustainable development by IPS – Inter Press Service, and IFEJ – the International Federation of Environmental Journalists.)

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