Hellenic Recycling Organization (EOAN) now shows a dissolution pattern. The prescribed course of obsolescence in recent years has led today to the fact that it not only does not fulfill its main task, that is, the supervision and control of recycling systems, but even in its infancy does not meet the needs of companies, systems and citizens. Characteristically, even half of the recycling systems did not properly submit business plans (and still continue to operate), and EOAN is unable to verify whether the declared quantities of the operators correspond to the quantities to be processed.

Let’s start with faces. In late February, EOAN President and Managing Director (former mayor of Kifissia) Nikos Chiotakis announced his withdrawal from the organization to run in local elections in October. He was replaced by Pierros Hatzigiannis, who recently served as executive chairman of Attica Gas Distribution Company. On the same days, EOAN Director General Kalomira Suliu also resigned: she was seconded from the Ministry of Rural Development at the beginning of 2021 to the special office of the Minister of the Environment, Kostas Skrekas, and from there to EOAN in September 2022. A month ago, she quit her job and returned to Mr. Skrekas’ office. Her seat remains vacant.

Leadership resignations are nothing new for EOAN. In March 2021, CEO Yannis Sideris stepped down, returning to the private sector. A month earlier, representatives of environmental organizations resigned from the board of EOAN, protesting against the licensing of the disposal system, despite the negative recommendation of the service. Similarly, employees leave. In recent years, four employees quit due to transfer and two due to business trips. As a result, instead of the 51 positions provided for by the staff list, 14 remained. Most likely, if they could, they would also leave.

The final blow to the organization was dealt by a change in the organizational structure in September 2022. Today, after about six months, 14 employees of the organization are not located in the departments and departments of the organization. What does it mean; They don’t have specific responsibilities. Until recently, tasks were assigned to employees (written or verbal) by orders from the manager (who, as mentioned above, left last month and has not yet been replaced), and employees have largely functioned as part of their previous duties. The only decisions taken by the organization in the last six months, apart from ten direct research and work commissions (all with a budget of 16,500–20,000 euros and an annual duration), concern the approval of the organization’s budget and publicity campaign. for 2023.

But how does the situation in EOAN affect recycling in our country?

• Alternative control systems (packaging, batteries, lamps, oils, demolition materials, etc.) operate without supervision and control and therefore no guarantee that they are doing their job correctly.

• In addition, the reliability of the information provided by recycling systems is not guaranteed, as is known: “whoever you may say you are.” In some cases, specific systems, while they are asked for additional data and evidence, do not even enter into the response process, discrediting the oversight role of the organization (today, since there is no competent official, the authorities are not even asked for data).

• EOAN licenses new processing systems and renews or changes the licenses of existing ones. But decisions on some systems were not prepared by the agency, but were made at the suggestion of the managing director. For the rest of the systems, they were made according to the proposals of the service. Due to the workload and the occasional disruption in the organization (due to layoffs), the system was licensed “automatically”, that is, based on the auto-negotiation provision of the legislation, an inactive period of four months had passed. In other words, the recycling system (concerning, in particular, the handling of building materials) was approved without testing.

Instead of 51 staff positions, EOAN is left with 14 staff members.

• Requests and appeals of services, departments, enterprises and citizens are accumulated in the protocol free of charge and without a response.

• The organization’s inflexible commitments arising from LIFE projects or commitments to the EU are not met.

• There are business complaints about unfair competition that EOAN doesn’t even consider, let alone evaluate or take action on.

• Other than recycling systems, the market is generally not controlled. For example, plastic bag prevention measure, plastic coffee cups and straws prevention measure.

• It is noted that even in the case of inspections, sanctions cannot be applied on most issues, since the law provides that the Presidential Decree must precede the one that will determine the methodology for determining administrative sanctions by type of violation. The methodology was handed over to EOAN within a year, but the organization has not started drafting the final text, according to sources from the Ministry of the Environment.

• EOAN is not fulfilling its institutional role as it has not even launched many of its statutory obligations (Law 4819/2021 and Law 4736/2020). According to these laws, EOAN had to prepare ministerial decisions to define new systems, such as, for example. for fish products, tobacco products, textiles, etc. Some of them have been put into operation, but the only completed work is on the return guarantee system for plastic and glass bottles (DRS), however, the launch of the system is successively extended (the latest in the recent multi-bill of the Ministry of the Environment).

• In addition, at the institutional level, EOAN should deal with other issues when making decisions on issues related to disposal. For example, issue guidelines on environmental design, define a method for determining packaging waste on recycled materials in waste processing facilities, which theoretically should have been done before 12/31/2021. Draw up a three-year plan to clean up the coast of single-use plastic products throughout the country, the cost of which will be “shared” among the agencies that will be created to manage single-use plastic products and other things.

• EOAN does not provide transparency and publicity in the field of recycling. The annual reports of the schemes and their annual reports are not published on its website (as expressly defined by law). In general, no one knows whether and which recycling systems comply with their obligations, what are their plans for the next three years, and so on. In general, nothing is published: EOAN’s latest accounting report for 2018, the latest policy report for 2019, the latest available data on disposal for 2018, and the “open data” entry on the organization’s website leads to a blank page, with the note … “soon “.

Because the organization was allowed to paralyze

This situation is familiar to the Ministry of the Environment (although most understandably avoid getting involved). She is also known in Parliament: in her recent question, KINAL MP Nadia Giannakopoulou highlighted some of the issues mentioned above, but has not yet received a response. Why is EOAN disbanding? Opinions differ. Many believe that the gradual reduction in EOAN is intentional – it’s just that the interpretation is different. Some believe that this situation is in fact fueled by some recycling systems whose out of control serves as a state of chaos. This view is also shared by some … recycling systems, given that such systems (which, it should be remembered, are non-profit organizations) create conditions for unfair competition.

Others believe that the discrediting of EOAN precedes its abolition. The recent multi-bill of the Ministry of the Environment, which was adopted last Tuesday, directly calls into question the future of the organization. It states that “until December 31, 2024, the Department of Environment and Energy is assessing the feasibility of expanding the competence of the RAAE (including the evolution of the RAE) in matters of oversight of alternative management systems and takeovers of the Hellenic Recycling Organization. “. There is no doubt that the systematic “partisanization” of the organization (as well as many other public organizations) and the decision-making by boards of directors, usually little connected with the subject, in relation to the organized bodies of the largest companies in the country, is a recipe for failure. add legitimate dissatisfaction of the staff of the agency with his position, even their fear, since in the recent past, employees have received lawsuits for their activities (and EOAN did not show much zeal to protect them.) But how will the fate of recycling in Greece change with the transfer of responsibility from one understaffed organization of another, also understaffed and “overloaded”?

“K” contacted most of the relevant actors. “It’s true, EOAN has been paralyzed since September. It basically doesn’t work anymore,” says former EOAN president Nikos Chiotakis. “The last board meeting was in December, and to my knowledge, very few decisions have been made in the past six months.” Asked about the lack of audits of recycling systems and his own tenure, Mr. Chiotakis argues that the lack of staff has “brought” the organization to its knees. — Checks alone, even without a company car? We tried with the Interdepartmental Market Control Service of the Ministry of Development, and some fines were imposed. But there was nothing else we could do.” As for the operational plans, “not even half were sent (s.s. from the disposal systems). But even what was sent was difficult to assess due to the lack of personnel. I received 20 people, and now there are 14 left. Let me remind you that that especially after the change in the organizational structure, employees had to be assigned to departments, which was not done.They did the work on the basis of a fee, and not because their boss forced it on them, since they do not yet have a boss.However, to fill the positions of supervisors, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has recently passed a resolution allowing transfers.” “K” contacted the new EOAN Managing Director, Piero Hatzigianni, but he did not answer. The latest EOAN director, Kalomira Suliu, who today returned to the personal office of the Minister of the Environment, Kostas Skrekas, limited herself to a statement that she left resigned for personal reasons, while she did not want to comment on the situation in the organization.

The situation at the Hellenic Recycling Organization (EOAN)

Checks of recycling operators have been stopped. In practice, everyone does what they want.

Just over half of the agencies submitted their business plans and reports on time. Plans are not controlled.

Data on the operation of recycling systems, achievement of goals, their planning are not made public.

Procurement and enforcement of enforcement measures for plastic bags, plastic cups and straws are also not controlled.