Waste management plan set to improve standards
After the failure to meet targets set in 2015, the new updated National Waste Management Plan (ESDA) for 2020-30 was put up for public consultation by the Environment Ministry Thursday.
The plan, which looks to fall in line with European standards, stipulates that by year-end, tenders for the construction of a total of 17 waste treatment plants throughout Greece will have been called.
The target is to reduce the amount of waste that ends up at landfills to 10% by the end of the decade – five years earlier than Greece is obliged to under European Union directives. Currently 80% of waste heads to landfills.
The plan also foresees an end to uncontrolled waste disposal and the rehabilitation of illegal landfills by 2022.
The aim is to increase recycling to 55% in 2025 and 60% in 2030 (including biowaste), as well as to separate the collection of organic waste and develop the required infrastructure throughout the country by 2022.