They decided to unite their forces in five municipalities of Eastern Attica, in order to overcome an important problem, but also to exploit it in favor of the environment and their citizens. The municipalities Peanias, Pallini, Spata-Artemis, Cropias and Markopoulou Mesogaias will collaborate in order to create an electricity production unit using biomass, thus making use of the available remains of plant origin.

Already, the first meeting took place at the Town Hall of Peania. The mayors of Paiana Isidoros Madis, Pallini Christos Aidonis, Kropias Dimitris Kyousis, Spaton-Artemidas Dimitris Markos and Markopoulos Kostas Alaiannis discussed the basic parameters of this initiative, which combines environmental protection with energy self-sufficiency and economic relief for citizens. In other words, a solution will be given to the problem with the amount of pruning that is collected in the municipalities and energy will be produced and an improvement in the environment will be brought about, but also the reduction in costs will be noticeable, so this will work economically to the benefit of the citizens.

In the first phase, the five mayors agreed on the need for this inter-municipal cooperation, committed to continue the joint meetings and set up a technical working group to formulate a specific implementation plan, utilizing financial tools from the State and the European Union.

This initiative is part of the strategy for:

  • Reducing the environmental footprint
  • Strengthening energy self-sufficiency
  • Creation of new jobs

Is. Madis: “The problems we are asked to manage go beyond the boundaries of a municipality”

But what exactly is this plan and what pushed the five municipalities to this partnership? “This plan is nothing more than the utilization of the dozens of tons of prunings and residues of agricultural work, which arise every year in our municipality,” the mayor of Peania, Isidoros Madis, answers to APE-MBE and explains: “I remind you of the images we all saw, not only in Peania, before the fire season, when dozens of plot owners cleaning their properties, they gave up whatever was on the sidewalks. The situation was tragic in 2024, the first year of enforcement of the relevant Law, and problematic in 2025. Keep in mind that the five municipalities, which we sat around the same table with, face similar problems and within the limits of our responsibility tons of plant residues are produced every year, which we are required to manage at a high cost by sending them to the landfill. Instead, we advocate their utilization for energy production for the benefit of our societies. I repeat, in order to prevent miscreants, it is about using only the residues of plant origin”.

Regarding how feasible this plan is, Mr. Madis says: “This is a technology that is already being applied with excellent results and therefore, it is completely feasible to use it in our case as well. Today, we are in the first steps of this effort, as sustainability must be ensured. This is the reason why five mayors decided to work together. A certain amount of waste is required, which no municipality produces on its own. All together, however, we gather such quantities, which ensure multiple benefits for our societies”.

As for how important it is that five municipalities cooperate, he notes: “Cooperation in Local Government is now necessary. The problems we are called to manage are such that they go beyond the narrow boundaries of a municipality. My principle is “strength in union”. Those who entrench themselves are doomed to fail.”

And for the benefits of all this effort, the mayor of Peania lists: “Reduction of management costs, reduction of energy costs for the participants, protection of the environment”.

Chr. Aidonis: “Our strength lies in cooperation”

For his part, the mayor of Pallini, Christos Aidonis, emphasizes to APE-MPE: “With this change in the legislation and the obligation to clean up the plots, we are now faced with a huge amount of prunings and plant residues. The lack of staff has also created a huge problem for us, while all this volume also translates into high costs, as it has to be moved to special units, so transport costs, storage costs, staff overtime are paid. But even beyond that, especially in the months of May and June, cleaning was left behind, because all this flammable material had to be collected. So include the movement, for the vehicles to enter Attiki road, to go 30 km to the place where we will drop them off, so you realize how big the problem and the cost are.

Thus, we decided to cooperate with the five municipalities in order to advance this plan, for the benefit of our citizens and the environment.”

At this point, Mr. Aidonis mentions about the cooperation: “The five mayors are people who can cooperate. After all, we have collaborated on other issues as well. So our strength lies in cooperation. Together we can make our region a pioneer in sustainable energy and leave a legacy for future generations. We have had the first discussions, we also have the people with knowledge of the subject and we will also have the cooperation with official bodies, so that this plan can come forward and be implemented.”

And to the question, if the planning is far from the implementation, the mayor of Pallini answers: “We have all the conditions to make this unit and indeed in 15 months. We also have an overabundance of vegetable matter. And other municipalities can also bring theirs to our unit, there has already been an initial interest.”

And he concludes: “It’s a bet and it will open roads.”