With a clear plan of four proposals, the Attica Region is approaching the meeting to be held today under Interior Minister Theodore Livanios – a meeting requested by the Region’s Nikos Hardalias and the president of PEDA George Markopoulos from the first moment the issue of the increase in landfill fees arose.

The proposal of the Region of Attica is based on the following fourfold:

– Immediate and significant reduction and rationalization of the amount of the landfill tax to the levels of the other EU member states.

– Immediate legal arrangement for the disengagement of EDSNA and the Region from any procedure for the collection of any fee

– Immediate and within the next three months submission of a holistic plan by the General Secretariat for Waste Management Coordination of the Ministry of Environment for the management of the 1.6 tons of waste in the Attica basin

– Allocation and direction of 45% of the resources of the Sectoral Programme of the Ministry of Environment for waste management to the Region of Attica – a fair proportional distribution of the relevant resources for the Region where 45% of the country’s inhabitants reside and produce waste

The meeting will take place at 15:30 at the Ministry of Interior, and in addition to Minister Theodoris Livanios, Attica Region Governor Nikos Hardalias and the President of the Regional Union of Municipalities of Attica and Mayor of Galatsi, Georgios Markopoulos, the General Secretary of Waste Coordination Manolis Grafakos, the President of EDSNA Babis Siatras and the Deputy Minister of Finance Thanos Petralias will participate.

The Region of Attica and EDSNA, always in consultation with PEDA, are attending the meeting with this joint four-point plan to overcome the deadlocks caused by the implementation of the legislative measure.

As circles of the Region of Attica point out, the burial fee does not solve any problem. “We are approaching the meeting with a clear and responsible attitude, with clear proposals, to provide a definitive solution to the major issue of waste. This is an unacceptable and unfair “gratis” that burdens, even more, the already financially burdened municipalities, forcing them to pass the cost directly to citizens and leading many first-tier local government bodies to financial suffocation, even bankruptcy.”

The Region is awaiting the final plan of the Ministry of Environment and is committed to present within the second quarter of 2025, i.e. by the end of June, a comprehensive plan for waste management in the Basin, in line with the best practices applied in Europe and internationally.

“We are aiming for a comprehensive plan of substance and not of impressions. A holistic management plan that will address the problem in perpetuity with a sense of social responsibility, based on the principles of equality, balanced development, and neighborhood prosperity. A plan that provides a permanent and definitive solution to the issue of waste management. And the role of the Region can – and will – be catalytic”, say interlocutors of the Attica Regional Governor.

“Gasification of the final residue under strict environmental conditions”

On this crucial issue, moreover, Nikos Hardalias has already shown his intentions, pointing out the need for metropolitan waste management in Attica and noting that landfilling is a practice that is completely outdated and highly anti-environmental. Indeed, the Attica Regional Governor has openly advocated the gasification of the final residue under strict environmental conditions, so that it can be used for energy purposes. A method which, as the Regional Governor’s associates note, has “proven positive results in metropolitan regions and cities abroad where it has been applied”. At the same time, the Region of Attica underlines the need to end the “abomination” -as they characterize it- of Phyllis, with Nikos Hardalias stressing that “can not West Attica to accept the entire waste of the basin. It is a practice that violates the balanced development of our 66 neighbourhoods.”

Management audit completed at EDSNA – “Where there is a responsibility, it will be attributed”

It should be noted that the collection of the landfill fee, which was instituted under the SYRIZA government, is imposed on municipalities for the quantities of municipal waste buried in Landfills (Landfills) without treatment.

“For decades the problem was “buried” under the carpet. Huge sums were spent both on studies of dubious effectiveness and quality and on recycling without the corresponding results,” state from the Region, noting meaningfully that in the next period (in January) the management audit at EDSNA is completed and “the results are sent to Justice, which knows exactly what to do. It goes without saying that where there are responsibilities, they will be attributed.”

As EDSNA acts as an “intermediary”, i.e. it pays the burial fee directly to the Hellenic Recycling Organisation, it is also worth mentioning that, according to reports, more than 240 million euros have so far been collected in the EOAN’s coffers, of which no one knows what and if it has been returned to the municipalities, and if and which projects have been funded for recycling.