Greece slapped with €5.5 mln EU fine over Ionian island landfill

The European Court of Justice has ordered Greece to pay a substantial fine over the dire state of the Zakynthos landfill, located within the Ionian island’s protected National Marine Park.

Under the ruling, Greece must immediately pay €5.5 million and an additional €12,500 for each day it fails to fully comply with a previous judgment issued 11 years ago. The court found that the country had failed to implement the 2014 decision, which condemned Greece for operating a landfill that had exceeded its capacity, was malfunctioning and posed “a serious risk to human health and the environment.”

Constructed in 1996 in the heart of the Zakynthos National Park – an important nesting site for the endangered Caretta caretta sea turtle – the landfill expanded four times legally and several more times illegally, ultimately covering 92,000 square meters. By its official closure in 2017, it had received roughly 528,600 tons of waste. Environmental organizations’ complaints to the European Commission led to the original case and conviction.

Despite the 2014 ruling, the site reportedly continued to operate until at least 2017, and possibly until 2020, due to the absence of an alternative waste facility. The EU court highlighted Greece’s failure to shut down or rehabilitate the site by June 2017, as well as its long history of waste management violations. It also cited repeated instances in which Greece ignored earlier court rulings on similar environmental breaches.

In February, Greek authorities released an environmental impact study proposing a €5.2 million restoration plan. The project includes building a large retaining wall and terraced slopes to stabilize the area and reshape the landfill into gentler contours.

Kathimerini