Which is the first island whose coastal and marine environment is fully adopted by Aegean Rebreath? Of course, Antiparos! After the successful operation of the marine litter collection station that has accummulated almost 15,000 recyclable materials and 3 tons of fishing gear, and the decongestion of the seabed of the island, we are proceeding with the installation of three-stream recycling bins for plastic, glass and aluminium on 10 beaches of Antiparos. This is essentially the start of an innovative program that we have envisioned a long time ago: the installation of small marine litter stations throughout the island in order to directly serve citizens and visitors by implementing sorting at the source. In perfect cooperation and planning with the Municipality of Antiparos and the support of Pepsico Hellas, we can now talk about the total management and decongestion of the coastal front of an island.
With the special slogan and hashtag #KeepAntiparosClean, one can find these special hubs of environmental awakening and action on Livadia, Agios Ioannis, Psaraliki, Sifneiko, Apandima, Soros, Panagia, Diapori, Agios Spyridonas and Glyfa beaches.
The bins were designed and built from scratch from 400 kg of recycled lids collected by the island’s residents throughout the previous years, a fact that makes our pilot program even more significant. This way, the circular economy is put into practice in a unique way with the participation of the whole community which remunerates the fruits of its efforts.
Three local seaside catering businesses, Fanari Beach Bar, Time Marine and Soros Beach Antiparos also participate in the programme which, to their credit, agreed to contribute to our effort and spread the message to their customers, placing clay recycling containers at their facilities as well.
We hope that the results of the program will be even more hopeful and that the efforts of all of us will be the trigger for a real change in our culture and daily habits.
