greece : recycling

GREEK TEAMDos Hermanas March – April 2014

Stamatis SkalerisDimitris Papadoulis

Nikos Saragias

Recycling

As European society has grown wealthier it has created more and more rubbish.

Each year in the European Union alone we throw away 3 billion tons of waste - some 90 million tons of it hazardous.

EUROPE

Most of what we throw away is either burnt in incinerators, or dumped into landfill sites (67%).

Both these methods create environmental damage.

Landfills don’t only take up more and more valuable land space, it also causes air, water and soil pollution, discharging carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) into the atmosphere and chemicals and pesticides into the earth and groundwater.

Waste Management

3600000 tons of domestic waste are produced every year.

There are 5000 rubbish dumps in Greece,70% of which are uncontrolled and they take in about 1 million tons of waste every year.

Situation in Greece

A Greek citizen’s typical domestic waste weighs 1 kg and consists of:

30% organic materials29% paper18% plastic5% aluminum4% glass14% not categorized objects

The domestic waste

This is a method used in Greece for desposing waste.

Litter is buried with lairs of sand and dust and after it rots and decomposes, the produced liquids and biogas are gathered in pipes and processed in special ways.

Landfill waste disposal

Toxic substances go through the protective layer and they pollute the sky and the ground.

The uncontrolled burning is responsible for the existence of PVC in the atmosphere.

Problems

Benefits : The organic part of the waste is gained back.

Disadvantages :1)The garbage stays a long time in

the ground.2)Smell problems in the surrounding

areas.3)High cost of investment.

Composting

Waste volume reductionReusabilitySorting from the source

Sollutions

Paper 30%Glass 20%Aluminum 25% Plastic 1%

Recycling in Greece

There is a big part of energy used in the production of materials saved by recycling.

Glass 90,2%Aluminum 95,4%Tinplate 78%Plastic ΡΕT 98,7%

Benefits of Recycling

New job openings.Extension in the active time of

dumps.Reduction in the amount of sewage

buried.Reduction in the cost of the

collection and the sorting of garbage.

Benefits

Thank you for your attention!