Controversial plan for Corfu landfill scrapped

The years-long and sometimes violent dispute between the state and locals over the latter’s opposition to the creation of a landfill near the village of Lefkimi on the Ionian island of Corfu came to an end on Thursday after the Environment Ministry announced it has scrapped the plan.

Instead, the ministry announced the creation of a new landfill next to the neighboring village of Temploni and said that a waste treatment unit was tendered a few days ago. The new unit, budgeted at 24 million euros, is expected to operate in 2023, and according to authorities it will usher in a new era in waste management on the island.

Referring to the protests by the residents of Lefkimi in the southern part of the island, Manolis Grafakos, the general secretary for waste management at the Environment Ministry, told Kathimerini they were not baseless as the landfill would have been very close to the village.