ATHENS — Environment & Energy Minister Kostis Hatzidakis said that all 14 landfills at the islands of the south Aegean will be shut down by 2022, speaking on Saturday from the island of Santorini.

"It is a shame, in 2020, to have 14 uncontrolled landfills in the country's most popular tourist destination (Santorini)," he noted, and said that the process of their closure has already began, the broader aim being to have all the landfills in the Cyclades and the Dodecanese closed by 2022, he elaborated.

The minister further underlined that this plan will eventually be applied nationwide, noting the need to "build modern waste treatment plants according to European standards."

With a waste-recycling program already being implemented in Santorini, "we want Santorini to be a model not only for the islands of the Cyclades and the southern Aegean, but also for all of Greece."

Finally, Hatzidakis said that "apart from wanting to be consistent in our obligations to the EU, we also want to support our tourism product and protect the environment."