EU funding for municipal waste management in Pyrgos in the prefecture of Ilia

The residents of the Municipality of Pyrgos and elsewhere in the prefecture of Ilia have for years been faced with an inadmissible and dangerous situation resulting from over 20 000 tonnes of municipal waste being dumped in the streets of their own and surrounding municipalities, with serious consequences in terms of public health. Doctors have already reported serious diseases (respiratory infections, gastroenteritis, etc.) arising from failure to clear away the waste.

Furthermore millions of cubic metres of toxic gas emitted by the fermenting waste are being inhaled by local residents each day. The consequences of this have yet to manifest themselves.

Driven by despair, local residents are resorting to burning the waste illegally, resulting in additional air pollution with adverse effects on public health, not to mention the fire risk.

Addressing the European Parliament’s Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety on 18 April 2016, Commissioner Vella indicated that funding would be provided for municipal waste management in the Member States.

Given that the situation has become particularly critical and taking into account the importance the Union attaches to environmental protection, can the Commission say what funding can be provided and when for urban waste management in municipalities such as Pyrgos in the prefecture of Ilia?

Answer given by Mr Vella on behalf of the Commission

The construction of solid waste management infrastructures as well as the collection, transport, recycling and reuse of waste can be supported by the European Regional Development Fund and the Cohesion Fund in the framework of the respective national and regional programmes. The available EU allocation for investments in infrastructures for the treatment of household waste management (under the national programme of ‘Transport Infrastructures, Environment and Sustainable Development’ for the 2014-2020 period) amounts to EUR 580 million.

For actions such as waste prevention, sorting and recycling, the same national programme provides for an EU allocation of EUR 102 million and the regional programme of Western Greece, EUR 12 million.

Besides the already adopted national Waste Management Plan, the adoption of the regional Solid Waste Management Plans defining the type, location and capacity of the planned infrastructures are basic conditions for the starting of the investment. The regional Waste Management Plan for Western Greece, which constitutes the regional strategy in this field, is expected to be adopted soon.