Waste management solutions for the Ionians – latest IEF newsletter
Inaugural newsletter
Many Greek Islands, in particular the Ionians, have in recent years seen a complete breakdown and overload of the waste management system. One of the key objectives of the Ionian Environment Foundaiton is to reduce the amount of waste created by these islands, and to make sure waste is managed effectively and sustainably.
The first grants in this space include:
Waste Awareness Action Week (WAAW): A pilot programme which took place in March 2020 in the primary school of Paxos, a school that has won awards for its efforts to promote and act on proper waste management and care for the environment. The instructor and designer of the course is Victoria Turner, an experienced geography teacher in the UK, who – having a family on the island – has also become a Paxiot. The turnout and interest of children and their parents was very high and encouraging. Work to expand the programme is underway; you can help to replicate it on other islands!
Sinies Small Green Spot: The “green corners” of Corfu are community-managed sites, where people and businesses voluntarily bring their recyclable waste clean and sorted, in order to make sure they will be treated properly and to avoid them being dumped in landfill. In Sinies, NE Corfu -one of the first and most successful citizen-led “green corners”- a social enterprise was recently founded by local people. We hope it will encourage similar initiatives to follow suit in the future. The project is making a start this month, but to ensure it can run throughout the summer, we are supporting them to raise more funds. Please do contact us, if you want to contribute to achieving large-scale change to waste management practices in that part of the island and beyond.