ATHENS – Repeatedly fined by the European Commission for operating unlawful landfills, Greece continues a polluting waste treatment policy that burns garbage and fails to properly use recycling, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) said.

The group’s Greek chapter stated that successive governments, which have essentially ignored orders to stop using the landfills, have created an environmental risk that will persist for decades.

“There is no effort to change bad practices,” said Achilleas Plitharas, footprint leader at WWF Hellas, regarding the group’s report that the state is deliberately burning waste instead of conserving, recycling, and reusing it.

WWF reported that in the past 25 years, waste production has increased 75%, with 80% still ending up in open-air pits despite three warnings from the European Commission that weren’t acted on.

The Commission’s regional policy directorate-general has also denounced a large public/private sector project in the Peloponnese designed to improve waste management in the region.

The report cited Greece for an “inexplicable insistence” on waste incineration, which produces greenhouse gases blamed for climate change, and for failing to properly implement recycling, with 40% of the content in recycling being waste that can’t be recycled.

The report noted that Greece has been slow to utilize European Union funds, with 64% of waste management projects not having any funding. Up to 2022, Greece paid €66.5 million ($72.68 million) in fines for unlawful landfills allowed to operate.

At that time, there were three unlawful landfills operating in Greece, on the islands of Santorini, Hydra, and Kalymnos, although 16 were closed but not rehabilitated to ensure there isn’t a risk to public health.