The Governor of the District of Peloponnesus Petros Tatoulis has declared a state of emergency in the city of Tripoli in response to the waste management problems, which has resulted in garbage not being collected for about forty days.
Mr. Tatoulis decided to proceed with the declaration after the municipal council made a formal request for assistance. The decision was taken in order to safeguard the health of local residents and visitors, while preventing further pollution. The state of emergency will be in effect until the 10th of January 2015.
The mayor of Tripoli Dimitris Pavlis told Vima 99.5 FM that the city generates about 50 tons of garbage per day and at present there are about 15,000 tons of uncollected garbage in the city. Mr. Pavlis explained that not enough is being collected and stressed that there is no landfill site nearby, meaning that the waste is transported to Athens.
As to why this occurs, Mr. Pavlis alleged that “the State and a series of people behind it […] want to serve specific interests”. According to the Mr. Pavlis declaring a state of emergency will allow local authorities to hire another contractor to assist in waste collection and management. Additionally, they will be able to consider options on establishing a new landfill site.
