A recent rally took place in the district which was organized by the Municipalities of Episkopi, Kastelliou and Gouves, as well as the Committee Fight, against the installation of a combustion plant to process refuse in Galyfa in the Episkopi Township.

This plant is slated to accept refuse from three prefectures of Crete, roughly 1000 tons daily.

The declaration delivered to the district, and signed jointly by the members of Committee Fight and the mayors of the three municipalities, states their opposition to this project and their intention to forbid any such installation for the treatment of refuse in their region for the following reasons:

1) It cancels out the planning and the dreams of local societies  - quality growth, a home building exodus from Iraklion, businesses, quality tourism, and support of beachfront tourism.

2) It overloads the Pediada region where there are already unbearable pressures from the operation of the military airport in Kastelli, the new International Civil Airport of Kastelli, the quarry enterprises and the Aposelemi Dam.

3) The installation will touch tens of villages within a small distance, as well as innumerable cultural, archaeological and religious elements.

4) It will create negative repercussions in agriculture, livestock-farming and in the hydro-geological system (as large quantities of cancer-causing dioxins will be emitted, also chemical unions will formulate with toxic metals, such as mercury, lead, arsenic, and chromium, and toxic waste in the form of rust and ash, as well as toxic liquid waste, will result). All of these will pass on to human, animal and vegetable life via air, soil and water, causing an increase in cancer mortality, cardiac episodes and organ damage.

5) There will be huge traffic jams daily caused by all the transporting vehicles. It is pointed out that this particular study done by the Polytechnic University of Crete, based on which the Galyfa region is proposed as a “first solution,” doesn’t take into account any social criteria, but has moved only technocratically and economically, without, in fact, determining the method of treatment.

It is a fact that the reactions are escalating (already the rally was considered the biggest since 1991). Everyone realizes that there is an imperative need for the correct management of refuse in all of Crete, all of Greece and the entire world. Locally, all the MPs of the Iraklion prefecture proposed that all the other possible areas to house this installation must be investigated, since, the study’s authors admitted certain elements had not been calculated in determining the “first choice location”.

The combustion waste treatment, in any case, should not be considered especially as it goes against recycling. Mr. Theofilos Troulinos from the Iraklion town council says: “it costs more than triple the amount of any other alternative method of garbage management.  And this cost will be paid by the locals and not by those promoting it. Some will rather profit from this – see Siemens.”

According to Hersonisos Mayor Mr. Spyro Danelli: “a further evaluation of other areas for this installation is an absolute necessity . . . it is not accidental that the European Commission and the European Parliament, in a joint decision, impose the reduction, the collection by refuse type, the recycling of refuse, as a medium for our health and the protection of environment. They determine also the measures for the reduction of refuse and decree that by 2020 recycling must be increased by 50 percent. This is the first time they report that recycling is preferred to this energy resurge, which is not considered a recovery.”

Supporting the Committee Fight are ecological organizations, the local K.K.E. and many other institutions.

We hope the institutions will keep in mind the above, and one last item heard recently, that NASA, in collaboration with Greek scientists, promotes a plan for recycled refuse to be sent to space for galactic rotations with final destination the black holes which are forecast to be the dumping grounds of the future.

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