Garbage «war» in Thessaloniki

«80% of the garbage on the streets of Thessaloniki has been removed and the situation will return to normal on Monday; the city won’t be squeaky clean, but it won’t be the mess of recent days either», said Giannis Boutaris, the mayor of the city.

At a joint press conference along with Stathis Avramidis, the deputy mayor of Sanitation, the mayor stressed that of a total of 70 garbage trucks, only 25 are operating. The staff working in cleaning amount to 438 people, but the mayor said that at least 700 permanent staff are needed to clean the city.

The municipality is looking into the possibility of acquiring its own autonomous garbage management system via the programs of ESPA.

Boutaris said he is satisfied with the work of sanitation deputy mayor, St. Avramidis, in addressing the garbage problem.

In response to the mayor and on behalf of the Local Government Association (OTA), Giannis Zournas said: «The recycling system of the Association is the most effective in Thessaloniki. We never declared inability to collect garbage, and the termination our contract by the administration of the Thessaloniki municipality was completely uncalled for».

Boutaris’ mention that «the OTA Association failed miserably on recycling» caused reactions on the part of those affected. This resulted in Zournas wondering why the mayor, instead of answering the persistent questions of the journalists, «rushed to terminate the contract with the Association even before the start of the EEAA system and before the installation of one of the 5.000 bins. Furthermore, why didn’t he choose the parallel operation of both systems for the benefit of the city, and instead attacked the Association again, saying that it claimed inability to fulfill its obligations to the municipality of Thessaloniki?».