Refuse Collection and Recycling Awareness

Rethymnon has the Amari landfill for waste disposal since the end of December last year when the illegal landfill site in Maroulas finally stopped accepting rubbish. There was a bit of a municipal panic in May when Amari refused to take rubbish from Rethymnon, as Rethymnon hadn’t paid the bill. Rethymnon Council thought that Amari was charging too much. Negotiations failed to bring about a price reduction, so now local rubbish collection taxes will increase by 10% - which will presumably be reflected in our utility bills. Using landfills for rubbish disposal on Crete raises many health and safety and environmental concerns - many of the sites are illegal and fail to correspond to European regulations. They are often a source of wild fires and concern has been expressed about increased levels of dioxins in surrounding areas. Local authorities have finally signed an agreement with a contractor to try and clean up the Maroulas site. This will be a challenging damage limitation exercise. It seems incredible that Maroulas was ever chosen in the first place to be a rubbish tip, given its proximity to Prasses Gorge, which is an area of outstanding natural beauty.

Local officials are looking for alternative solutions to landfills, and are currently researching potential locations for an incinerator. Recycling initiatives remain a top initiative. There is now a new ‘holding area’ in Tria Monastiria, this allows local trucks to deposit loads onto big container trucks. This reduces the number of journeys to Hania, where the recycling factory is, this frees up time for local trucks allowing them to collect a greater amount of material. The council is also running a series of public awareness events. One of these events took place in May at the Thursday market, where stands displayed information of how and where to recycle in Rethymnon, there were also several themed activities for children. Subsidies are available for municipalities that encourage recycling from the Ministry of Public Works and Environment, which should also be a good incentive! After initial glitch with the ‘yellow bins’ that we reported on a couple of months ago, you will now find that recycling bins for paper, glass, plastic, tin cans etc. are to be found throughout Rethymnon.

Summer Sport: Anyone for Beach Tennis?

Asteras (our local football team) has entered their final lap of the season with two more games to play—one home and one away. They need two wins to guarantee staying in their Division. One win night do, but this depends on the results of other teams.

There is good news for the women’s basketball team—OKA Arkadi, after winning the Cretan league they also managed to win the national play-offs with the result that they have been promoted to the A2 Division. Congratulations to the team. All the best for the next season! AGOR, the men’s basketball team, has started rebuilding their team after their relegation to the A2 Division. They are very close to signing a new coach, once this has happened new players will follow. Obviously their immediate goal is promotion back to A1.

As for volleyball?! Well the local teams are having a break from the limelight. Time for beach volleyball. The annual beach volleyball Tournament, now in its 11th year, will take place in June, either on the town beach or on the beach in front of the Porto Rethymno Hotel.

Preparations for the 24th Vardinoyannia Athletics meeting in the July are under way. If you would like to volunteer to help contact Municipal Athletics Organisation, Dimokratias 4-6, Third floor, Monday to Friday, 8am to 2pm, telephone 28310 57044, or contact EAR office, Koundouriotou 158, telephone 28310 52768. Deadline for registering as a volunteer is 9th June.

It’s in the Post….

Or is it? At the moment, that may depend on whether you can find the Post Office. The main Post Office in Moatsou is currently being refurbished (we expect the work to take AT LEAST three months), so postal services have now moved to some temporary homes. For letter post, you will still find services in Moatsou, but in a building diagonally opposite the official Post Office, in the block across from Electronet. For the collection and sending of parcels, you will have to travel further afield. Parcel delivery and collection has now moved to the Post Office building on the border of Kalithea and Perivolia, by the big roundabout opposite the Minos Hotel. So far we haven’t noticed any change in service as far as receiving letters goes but cynics at the Bugle sorting office see potential trouble ahead with the parcel post (For example, when does a small packet become a parcel?). Better start employing some pigeons….

Daily Ferry Services in June

Ferry crossings between Rethymnon and Pireaus on the high speed catamaran operated by Hellenic seaways are due to start running on a daily basis from June 13th, continuing throughout the summer. You can book online at the www.hellenicseaways.gr website, and tickets are available from a number of travel agents in town, including Satellite Tourist Services opposite the marina. There has still been no progress in getting a RO-RO service for trucks since ANEK pulled their standard service a couple of months ago, and we’ll have to wait and see what winter brings….!