Larissa: Municipal fees to residents depending on the garbage that will be thrown away

An innovative process in waste management is expected to become “flesh and bones” in the city of Larissa. This is a pilot application of the waste management system based on the “PAY AS I THROW – POP” principle, following a proposal from the Deputy Mayor for Environment of the municipality of Larissa.

It is a circular economy policy that charges consumers for the amount of trash they throw away and is one of the most effective methods for reducing waste, controlling waste disposal costs and incentivizing residents to participate in recycling and composting programs.

As the competent deputy mayor Panagiotis Dais explained to APE-MBE, the new procedure will more fairly apply the charging of said feesn according to the behavior of the citizens in the area of ​​the waste they discard, at the same time giving incentives to those who actively participate in the sorting at the source by recovering the recyclable materials in separate streams so that only a small percentage of the waste ends up for burial.

At the same time, Mr. Dais mentioned that with the successful implementation of the above system the traditional system of charging remunerative cleaning fees based on the surface (m2) of residences and business premises will be radically overturned, which in fact offers no incentive for more rational waste management.

“This means that if you want to pay less to the municipality for waste collection, you reduce your waste and increase your recycling”, emphasized the deputy mayor.

It is noted that the objective of this specific procedure is to enable the Municipality of Larissa to charge lower municipal fees to all those who produce less waste or recycle more.

According to Mr. Dai, the feasibility of this specific philosophy, in waste management, will have several benefits and which will be the following:

• Reduction of the waste that ends up in the landfill with a simultaneous increase in its life time
• Achieving the goals set in the management and recycling of the various material and waste streams
• Contribution to the integrated waste management of the served area
• Fulfilling the requirement of the precautionary principle and the prevention of waste generation, according to which it is sought to limit the total volume of waste and to reduce the harmful consequences for health and the environment, through reuse, recovery of materials and recycling, so that to reduce the amount of waste for final disposal, taking into account the economic and social costs
• Increasing recycling by achieving high targets mainly in material streams such as recyclable packaging materials,
• Merit distribution of the total cost of municipal waste management
• Increasing the environmental sensitivity of citizens
• Introducing a new mindset of active citizen participation in the waste management sector
• Introduction of a merit-based billing system that is simple and comprehensible to citizens so as to lay the foundations for its implementation throughout the Municipality.
• Bins with photovoltaic panels

The responsible deputy mayor noted that for the energy autonomy of the bins and in order to be able to provide energy support for the equipment that will be installed for the implementation of the POP system, in each of the bins of the system, a photovoltaic panel will be installed on the lid.

The “Pay as You Fly (PoP)” proposal that has been submitted concerns 7,000 residentsaims to draw up a plan to organize the system as a pilot in the “Nea Politia” area, in the “Averof” area and with extension to neighboring districts of Larissa, if necessary.

The process will be done through a Specialized Central Internet Application Software (web app), for the management and supervision of the Program and the recording of the waste from each household in the bins by the competent municipal authority.

The responsible deputy mayor said at the same time to the Athenian and Macedonian News Agency that the whole plan will have the characteristics of reciprocity. He also emphasized that in order to operate in this direction, citizens will benefit from offers, which will be provided at no cost by businesses cooperating with the program.

“Businesses participating in the Municipality’s reward and reciprocity program must be both physical and online stores, and provide different categories of services and products. Each Offer will be published to all Users of the Online Application and will be available for redemption immediately. Rewarding the program, through offers, should be integrated into the online application, exclusively in the form of discount coupons, for a better understanding of the benefit of the return, by the users of the application” concluded Mr. Dai

RES-EMP

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