A few days ago he was in autoforos. mayor of Thira, due to the illegal dumping situation on the island. He claims that he is at an impasse, as the contract with the contractor for the daily “digging” of garbage has been terminated.

As a unique solution, it is proposed to define a “transitional” space for waste packaging before tendering for the final solution, which is still at an early stage. However, the chosen area provokes a reaction due to its proximity to houses and hotels.

Antonis Sigalas, mayor of Thera, was arrested on Friday and detained until the day before yesterday morning in Naxos by order of the Naxos Public Prosecutor’s Office. The reason is the poor condition of the only landfill on the island (and one of the two operating in the South Aegean Sea).

The other is Kalymnos, which ignites spontaneously at regular intervals). Like Mr. Sigalas explains “K”.The municipality worked with a local contractor to bury the rubbish (to minimize inconvenience) that left last July. Since then, the municipality’s attempt to find a new contractor has run into many problems and finally caught the attention of the prosecutor’s office.

The mayor was arrested and jailed for the poor condition of the landfill on the island.

transitional space

“We were left without a contractor. I don’t want to resort to the last resort of declaring a state of emergency because I don’t think that would be good for the island’s image,” he says. “We try to make the work of the landfill as secular as possible.

At the same time, we have requested the location of a temporary, transitional facility where we will collect garbage until the tender for the construction of a new, state-of-the-art unit is completed.”

The placement of a temporary facility in an old pumice mine in the Alonaki area is included in a multibillion bill from the Ministry of the Environment, which is currently before Parliament. However, it has generated a lot of response on the island as the location is close to residences and hotels. Mr. Sigalas sees the protests (at least those expressed at the political level) as hypocrisy. “We are protesting the raising of Sea Diamond and burying an amount equal to two Sea Diamonds per year in a landfill. There are people who don’t want anything done to get votes, they don’t care that we throw garbage in the caldera,” he argues.

In August, the South Aegean region announced a tender (through PPP) for the establishment and management of a waste treatment plant. Four companies or consortia expressed interest, applications were opened in October, but the results (who will move to the second stage of the competition) have not yet been announced. In any case, no new solution is foreseen before 2025.