This a press release on an upcoming event on waste management, focusing on the ongoing pressures towards privatization of waste management, and waste incineration, and exploring possibilities for alternative models of waste management. It is co-organized by the following collectives participating in the network for the protection of social, public, and common goods: The Western Front and The Festival for Water and Commons. It will take place in Athens on November 29. In addition to collectives and activists from Greece who will exchange knowledge and experiences on this crucial issue, activists and researchers from other parts of Europe will support the event, offering an opportunity to exchange knowledge and create bonds of solidarity. Below is a press release written by the members of the event’s organizing committee.
❗Waste incineration is destructive to the environment, public health, and human life, as demonstrated by dozens of scientific studies around the world that have investigated the effects in areas where waste incineration has been implemented.
👉 The Greek government is attempting to impose waste incineration as the primary method of urban waste management in order to serve the economic interests of the energy and waste cartels.
👉 The privatization of waste management is part of a broader plan to privatize all sectors of strategic importance, such as water and energy management.
🚨 Incineration is a dangerous, extremely expensive, and outdated method of waste management that drives up the cost of waste management.
🚩 Dozens of municipal and regional councils, trade unions, and movements across the country are reacting to this nightmarish prospect and proposing alternative models of waste management that are public in nature and more environmentally friendly.
‼️We oppose incineration and demand a change to the current management model, which leads to the burial of almost all waste. The current model is ineffective, polluting, and destroys raw materials that should be recovered.
🌱 Preventing the nightmare scenario of waste incineration goes hand in hand with the demand for decentralized public management, social control, and an emphasis on prevention, pre-sorting, and material recovery.
📌 With an eye on the 2nd Festival for Water and Common Goods, the Western Front and the Festival for Water and Common Goods are co-organizing an open discussion with interventions by movements and collectives from Greece and abroad.
↓ Detailed program:
❗Saturday, November 29, at the OTE Workers’ Cultural Center, 110 3rd September Street (near the Victoria ISAP station), Athens, Greece❗
👉 5:00 p.m.: Arrival, registration of representatives of collectives who wish to participate. Parallel video screening.
❗5:30 p.m.: Start of the event❗
📌 Coordination: Akis Zarkadoulas
Speakers:
👉 The situation in waste management—the government’s plan for incineration—the proposal for alternative management, Tasos Kefalas—Despoina Spanoudi, Western Front
👉 Promotion of privatization through waste incineration and its consequences – the connection with the basic commodities of water and energy. Vangelio Sotiropoulou, Festival for Water and Common Goods
👉 Impact on public health from waste incineration at AGET, results of the Medical Association study, Makis Tsamis, former president of the Magnesia Medical Association
👉 Experience from European movements against waste incineration:
👉 Salvatore Paolo De Rosa, academic researcher, member of “Stop Biocidio”, a movement against pollution from waste and its incineration in Campania (Italy)
👉 Shlomo Dowen, national coordinator of the Without Incineration Network (UKWIN), United Kingdom
Interventions:
📌 Representatives from:
– the Volos movement against incineration by AGET
– other European movements against incineration
– municipal factions and citizen movements
Discussion
❗20.45: End of event
Event Brochure. Co-Organization by Western Front and Festival for Water and Commons. “No to the Burning. We choose alternative models of waste management”.
