The municipality of Thessaloniki proceeded to harvest the olives from the loaded olive trees of the entire city, in order to produce, for the first time, municipal organic olive oil. It is estimated, by the Green services, that in total they will be collected 800-1000 kg of fruits and will be produced 150-200 kg of olive oil.

Employees of the municipality of Thessaloniki set up olive trees and took the appropriate tools to harvest the olive trees that exist in the Vlatadon Monastery, on the beach front, in the town hall and on Angelaki Street. There are approximately 150-200 olive trees planted in the city, in all areas – in the Rotunda, in the universities, in Triandria, in the Depot.

“It is an initiative that has more semiotic interest. The Green Service discovered that the olive trees planted all over the city have enough fruit, and with their suggestion, the collection process began. The oil that will be produced will be allocated for the needs of the social structures of the municipality, after it has been certified for its quality“, said the mayor of Thessaloniki, Stelios Angeloudis.

Mr. Angeloudis emphasized that this specific initiative is an opportunity to send the message of protecting the environment and supporting vulnerable social groups. “To have trees with fruits in the cities because the land returns to us in multiples of what we give it and at the same time with the oil that will be produced to send the message that vulnerable social groups should not be forgotten by any of us”, he underlined.

For his part, the mandated municipal councilor responsible for green matters, Vassilis Diamantakis, referred to the initiative to create a municipal olive oil: “It is an opportunity this year to register the olive trees so that next year the effort will be more organized. I believe that year after year we will develop it”.