How many of us know that our old worn clothes as our jeans for example, could be the raw material for insulation material in house building?
And yet, many objects that are useless to us, instead of ending up in landfills, could recycled, reused or recovered, with multiple benefits not only to protect the environment and saving natural resources, but also to promot sustainable development and creating new jobs.
“Alternative management in the European Union and in Greece is based on the pyramid-based waste management hierarchy: Prevention, reuse, recycling, recovery, disposal. Disposal at landfills should be the last option available, “stresses Mr Politopoulos, president of the Hellenic Recycling Agency, in “Radiotileorasi”
How familiar are we in Greece with the concepts of recycling and alternative waste management?
“Certainly the percentage of people who know and are trying to recycle has increased, but there are still gaps in implementation at the municipal level, with the result that we have very low targets, even at the level of recycling.That is why, with the new law passed in November, we have introduced a number of measures to help the recycling process. We will give more incentives to municipalities, which will now be able to sell recyclables through tenders and create “green spots”, while also receiving subsidies from the ESPA for their operation.The “green spots” are clean areas where citizens can recycle materials that the municipality will then collect so they can market them and secure the resources for their operation. ” , Mr. Politopoulos.
Regarding the new institutional framework for reducing plastic bags, Mr. Politopoulos points out that it is a European obligation.”Of the 400 bags we use per person per year, we want to end up, in 2019, 90 bags per person.
As of 1/1/2018 there is 3 cents (plus TAX) for each bag, which It will be rewarding, because this money will be donated to “Hellenic Recycling Agency”, which will carry out actions to inform and educate citizens, while ordering multi-purpose bags, which will be returned to the citizens free of charge, with the sole obligation to return them, in their turn, the plastic bags they bought, so recycling it will, because plastic is a “bad material” that we don’t want to stay in the environment, and they will basically get their money back.
“Next time, before we throw away our garbage, it’s good to think seriously about if it’s really our last option, because many of them can be reused and recycled, and there is definitely a special bin nearby. It’s worth looking for!
The Hellenic Recycling Agency is the responsible body of the Ministry of Environment and Energy for the design and implementation of waste prevention and alternative management policy in Greece.