The earth’s resources are not inexhaustible. The circular economy is a one-way street and the need to set up modern waste management units is now imperative. Manolis Grafakos, Secretary General of Energy in the context of the 7th Economic Forum of Delphi, which takes place in Delphi April 6-9 and is under the auspices of SA. of the President of the Republic, Mrs. Katerina Sakellaropoulou, spoke about the titanic effort of the government with the aim of zeroing the disgraceful fines for illegal landfills within the next two years. He said: “We want to leave yesterday’s management behind. The national waste management plan has been drafted and is in force. We were champions in illegal landfills. We have reduced the fines by 40%. The government wants to enable the citizen who wants to separate the “And it motivates. I want to be fair. The drop in fines started with the previous government 8 years ago. We want to believe that we will close the illegal landfills,” he concluded.
George Kremlis, Director of the European Commission, authorized for issues of circular economy and insularity, stressed that the government is already making an institutional transition to the circular economy and that we should talk about circular tourism and circular entrepreneurship. There are, however, still several steps to be taken. “Our country needs units for the recycling of recyclable materials, which are either exported or burned. Think about economic bleeding and the environmental footprint. Businesses need to adapt to the cyclical model of economy. There are resources in waste and we can not waste them.” .
Politicians gave the baton to business representatives, who talked about the ways in which the success of the circular economy and recycling targets is possible.
Lavrentis Albertis, General Manager, Polygreen Group of Companies underlined the cinematic logic of the company he represents with the motto “zero waste is not a concept, it can become a reality”. He gave the example of the Tilos experiment – Polygreen initiative – which is implemented with the active participation of households, businesses and organizations of the small island and provides for the development of a technologically advanced system of cyclical management of all waste. Referring to the innovations of the Polygreen Group of Companies, it presented the electronic platform where waste is collected and weighed. “We already manage them and certify companies for their action. We want to extend this to the citizens,” he said, stressing that “there is no waste, there is raw material.”
Athanasios Kefalas, President Greek Mining Enterprises Association & Chairman, IMERYS Greece & Bauxites, spoke about the circular economy in the mining industry. “We use less land and we have less waste. We enjoy useful minerals and metals that our ancestors left behind. Like in Lavrio. Copper is a material whose production has been active by 60% for the last hundred years. Every year we recycle 32%. This “It means that we have not reached the level of maturity so that we do not need new minerals,” he stressed.
Lena Belsi, CEO, Geocycle Hellas, Member Heracles Group, referred to the logic of substitution and the need to change the production model. She used the example of concrete. “Concrete is a sustainable material. We have good practices from our factories abroad where they recycle it and make it again. This is not the case in Greece because the respective concrete regulation has not been adapted. We must move forward with environmental permits faster.”
Vassilis Kaminaris, Partner, Head of Audit, of KPMG presented the results of a recent report, noting that global turnover is only 8.6% and explaining that this is very low and that we should understand that individual bright examples are not enough. “We need to geometrically increase circularity. How will this be done? What changes will I have to make to my model? How will I implement it? “Change in legislation and how it will incorporate these changes into its model. At the same time, incentives and pressure on companies need to be intensified. This pressure comes from the citizens. This means that consumer information needs to be intensified.”
The discussion was moderated by the journalist of Mononews.gr, Marina Protonotariou.
On the Forum website (www.delphiforum.gr) you can see the sections and all the thematic discussions that will take place at the 4-day Forum in April, as well as the 500 and more distinguished personalities – confirmed speakers from Greece and abroad.
Source: Capital
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