Garbage piling up on streets due to landfill fears
Crews of the local government body responsible for waste management (EDSNA) were rushing to repair structural damage to the capital’s main landfill at Fyli in northwestern Attica amid forecasts of rainfall over the weekend.
On Tuesday authorities partially suspended garbage collections in order to prevent a collapse at the landfill by easing the burden on the cracking section of the dump.
The static problems had deteriorated as a result of heavy rainfall last Sunday.
Meanwhile, due to the suspension of collections, around 1,500 to 2,000 tons out of the total 5,000 tons of garbage normally produced daily by Athens’s more than 4 million inhabitants are piling up the capital’s streets every day.
And with Athens having no alternative other than the landfill at Fyli, the city is feeling the heat – and stench for that matter – with heaps of rubbish forming on the streets as residents had not been informed by authorities to refrain from putting their garbage in the communal bins.
Bidding to offer some relief, garbage collectors started depositing rubbish at a new section inside the landfill on Thursday but it can only receive a take amount.
According to EDSNA it will take around two weeks before garbage collections resume as normal.
