Contents
Lifestyle Too
Check Your Insurance Policies!
Just before we were going to press, there was some worrying news about some of the larger Greek Insurance Companies. At the time of writing industry regulators had revoked the licence of five insurance firms due to their ‘failure to meet liquidity requirements’. The companies involved are: Aspis Pronia General Insurance Company, Aspis Pronia Life Insurance, General Union, General Trust and Skourtis. The Economic and Finance Ministry has said that life insurance policies are secured, and that car policy holders will remain protected for a month to give them time to switch to another company. However, given that there is an up and coming general election, it remains to be seen what guarantees will remain in place should there be a change of government. Our advice is that if you think you might be affected then get in touch with your broker as soon as possible.
We will be following developments closely, and will update you when we find out more.
Eco Corner
Unfortunately it’s very much a case of ‘could do better’ as far as local environment news goes this month. Firstly, European Car Free Day (22nd September) was pretty much a non-event here in Rethymnon. The day was marked by ’far stricter control’ of traffic in the pedestrian zone in the Old Town. There was also supposed to be a one day exhibition of artwork by primary school children, but the Bugle team were unable to track this down. The European message for the day was “To find ways to travel in a more environmentally friendly way”. This would have been a golden opportunity to flag transport issues in Rethymnon and to demonstrate how the local authority intends to tackle them. Not a chance! At the same time the day could have been used to try and inject some new life into the ’free bicycle loan’ scheme. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find these bicycles, and the ones you do find tend to be in a poor state of repair and hazardous to ride. Not the way forward.
International Coastal Cleanup Day was on Saturday 19th September. This event has been held every year on the third Saturday of September since 1986 and is the world’s largest volunteer initiative to try and help protect oceans and waterways. On the day, hundreds of thousands of volunteers were picking up rubbish on beaches around the globe.
Here in Rethymnon volunteers from the local branch of the Greek Red Cross cleared rubbish from the town beach and divers from the Dolphin Diving School spent the morning cleaning the area by the Old Harbour. Obviously, many thanks are due to all who participated on the day. However, the downside to all of this comes when one learns what type of waste was removed from the harbour area in particular. Along with general rubbish, divers recovered a collection of tyres, car batteries, bags and chairs. The impression we are left with is that one of Rethymnon’s most important historical landmarks is currently being used as a general dumping ground. Clearly, the promotion of environmental awareness amongst some quarters here has a long way to go.
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!
