The Green Page

Last month Bob Wright alerted us to the potential ecological devastation posed by the Red Palm Weevil. Imported from Egypt this bug represents a real threat to Mediterranean palm trees. We were hoping to bring you an article written by Gianni Kalogerakis, from the Garden shop in Missiria (opposite Zisi), this will now have to wait until next month. In the meantime, according to Kathimerini, Athens City Hall has launched a campaign to ‘uproot trees in various parts of the capital that have been infested by the pest and to spray healthy trees at risk of infection by the insect.’ Hmm. Not entirely sure what we think about this particular policy.

Letter to the Mayor….Keep the City Clean!

Here we print a plea from Albert van Elst who has written an open letter to our George. Albert writes:
‘One of my favourite editorial pieces in the Bugle is about rubbish, I don’t want to write here that “the Bugle” is rubbish, no, certainly not, but it’s the information about recycling in it that is interesting. At the last international new years meeting, I heard that Mr. George Marinakis, Mayor of Rethymno, is waiting for new ideas. Well here’s my first one and I hope it will turn into a monthly “Letter to the Mayor” and the city council. In the alleys of Rethymnon - the Bugle team live in one of them - the citizens drop their daily rubbish in small plastic bags outside from their houses and than on a regular base a small rubbish car passes the streets and picks up the bags These bags are sometimes delightful dinners (or lunches) for cats and dogs that did not have their daily canned food from their owners - when they have owners! (note from Bugle editor in an alley: you’re right, this is a big problem in the Old Town right now but we actually have wheelie bins and recycling facilities at the end of our street so we don’t have to put our rubbish outside our houses at night, nor do our immediate neighbours. Nous sommes not guilty in that respect. Clean and pretty green is the Bugle team!). My idea is very simple : place in every alley of the old town “The Kliko container” The waste disposal container “KLIKO” is a 4 wheel rubbish bin in which we can either put all the rubbish together, like paper, food waste, glass, etc. or we can separate the rubbish according to the recycling program of the local authorities. They are strong and not heavy to ride. We can easily pin them to the wall to avoid stealing or vandalism. The Kliko can easily be brought to a central point where they can be emptied into the big trucks. Conclusion: no more spreading of rubbish on the streets of our beautiful old town, no more stinking food, no more glass to hurt your feet and no more small trucks. Mr. Mayor, in the Netherlands they even named an annual award after the Kliko container. It’s for the worst TV advertisement so you have a chance to use “The Kliko” as good positive advertisement for the clean streets of Rethymnon.’

Where Can I Recycle Waste Items?

Apart from using the blue and yellow recycling bins for household waste other items can be recycled as follows:
Disposal of broken electrical goods. There is a depot just outside town which will take anything ‘that had a plug on it’ (including washing machines and fridges). Drivers, take the National Road towards Heraklion in Misiria. Turn off the highway after about 100—150 metres, hang a right and you should soon see recycling bins etc. The depot is open from 6am to 3pm on weekdays, and from 6am to 12 noon at weekends. For further information call 28310 57940. For large objects that need collection call 195 from any phone.
Old telephones and small telecoms items. There is a green bin in the entrance of the main OTE office..
Batteries. various places in town including OTE, DEI, Germanos, Marinopoulos and Champion.
Old cars. DRAKOS on the left hand side of the National Road a short way out of Rethymnon (going towards Hania). They even pay you as they recycle the spares and give you a paper for tax purposes!