It’s the Autumn Equinox today, the end of summer on the astronomical calendar. This little trip will be over in a couple of days too as I head back to Blighty, the earth’s axis tilting ever further away from the sun as we head into winter. Oh joy. Still, just the six months to go and it’ll be spring again, just as has been happening for around 4.5 billion years. 

There’s another smaller cycle I’ve witnessed here in Rethymno, all to do with recycling. It started when I came here a couple of years ago and had been impressed by newly installed recycling bins along the city’s two-kilometre promenade. They’re spaced roughly every 100 metres, with around twenty of them along its full length, nice looking wooden cabinets with three bins, one for plastic, one for general recycling and another for landfill-bound waste.

On top of each one there’s even a tray for fag ends, trillions of which are thrown into the environment every year, where they leach nicotine and heavy metals before turning into microplastic pollution, so important here, right next to a beach where loggerhead turtles come to lay their eggs. 

With Eurostat and European Environment Agency (EEA) data suggesting that Greece is recycling around 21-25% of its municipal waste, significantly below the EU average of around 48-50%, I’d thought that, perhaps, Rethymno was an exemplar, bucking the national trend. Having seen so many people using the bins and, given the thousands who descend on the city every year and walk its promenade, most of whom drink bottled water, whatever the national stats say, it seemed like Rethymno was taking a step in the right direction.

But then, one evening, I saw a bin lorry pull up, its driver retrieving the bags from each bin, slinging all three in the back and pressing a button that crushed the lot, all together in its stinking inside.

In the couple of months that I was here back then I generally engaged in more interesting and enjoyable pursuits than bin monitoring, but I was so dismayed at what I’d seen that I emailed the mayor’s office and got this encouraging reply:

“We are thankful for your information. Without the concern and the precious help of our visitors and citizens we wouldn’t be able to get better and improve our municipality.

For your information, the collection service of the beach road is assigned to a contractor. After your reference, we reported the worker’s carelessness for not sorting the recyclable materials from the common garbage, to the contractor. He ensured that it will not be repeated.

The separation of plastic from the rest of the recyclable materials is in a pilot stage, in order to teach the Rethemnian citizens the procedure. In the near future our intention is to use a separate bin for each material, for its environmental waste management.”

So far so good, but here I am again two years later and, a few nights ago, I saw the same truck and the very same driver doing just what I’d seen in 2022, so I’ve written to the mayor yet again.

If the mayor’s request to the contractor has simply been ignored over the last two years, that’s tons of recyclables gone to landfill, approximately 29,200 recycling bins’ worth if they collect every day of the week, as they seem to in summer. It’s a popular winter spot too, so maybe. If so, the thousands of people who’ve been dutifully recycling have been duped into a pointless waste of their time. I haven’t heard back yet but watch this space for further incites into the fascinating world of Cretan bin watching.

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