Peloponnese eyes waste management

Work begins on Saturday on the new waste management system in the Peloponnese, the biggest of its kind in Greece.

Friday will see the signing of the concession agreement, granting Terna Energy the rights to start operating the system managing the waste of Corinthia, Arcadia, Argolida, Messinia and Lakonia in 10 months’ time.

This marks the conclusion of a long and eventful course, dominated by mistakes in its central design that resulted in many years of conflict with local authorities.

Terna Energy, which landed the project in 2018 through a public-private partnership, will immediately create five working sites: three waste processing units at Palaiochouni Arkadias, Oichalia Messinias and Skala Lakonias, plus two waste loading terminals at Spathovouni Corinthias and Nea Kios Argolidas.

The company expects construction to require two years and employ 800 people.

“We have two challenges ahead of us,” Panagiotis Nikas, the regional governor, told Kathimerini: “The first is the closure of dozens of illegal landfills to clean up the Peloponnese, and the second is the promotion of recycling with the reduction of waste produced.”