The cosmopolitan island of the Dodecanese, a world-renowned destination that attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors annually from all over the globe, was the final stop of this year’s Plastic Free Greece initiative, marking the end of a five-year program that toured the entire country, transforming the environmental landscape. The three-day event included two coastal cleanups at Afantou and Kritika beaches, as well as two underwater cleanups at Liminakia Fanes and Faliraki.

Together with the team from the Athanasios K. Laskaridis Charitable Foundation, the people of LIDL Greece traveled to Rhodes, bringing along two important allies: LIDL ambassadors Giorgos Kapoutzidis (actor and screenwriter) and Antonis Tsapatakis (Paralympic swimming champion). Alongside LIDL employees from the island, who supported the initiative from the very start, and with the assistance of the Rhodes Coast Guard, the cleanups proved to be highly successful.

The most common types of waste were small plastic pieces (708 items), cigarette butts (437 items), water/soda bottles (400 items), bottle caps and rings (302 items), and pieces of styrofoam (229 items)—the usual trash left behind by human activity.

The completion of this year’s program left behind cleaner beaches, and widespread optimism, but also concern about how long the protection of coastlines and seabeds will require inspired initiatives like Plastic Free Greece…