Battery-powered Greek island bets on green future

May 11, 2022, 4:14 AM | Updated: 9:06 pm

The sun sets behind a wind turbine on the Aegean Sea island of Tilos, southeastern Greece, Monday, ...

The sun sets behind a wind turbine on the Aegean Sea island of Tilos, southeastern Greece, Monday, May 9, 2022. When deciding where to test green tech, Greek policymakers picked the remotest point on the map, tiny Tilos. Providing electricity and basic services, and even access by ferry is all a challenge for this island of just 500 year-round inhabitants. It's latest mission: Dealing with plastic. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

(AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

TILOS, Greece (AP) — When deciding where to test green tech, Greek policymakers picked the remotest point on the map: tiny Tilos.

Providing electricity and basic services, and even access by ferry, are all a challenge for this island of just 500 year-round inhabitants. Its most recent problem has been dealing with plastic.

But authorities this week announced that more than 80% of Tilos’ trash is now being recycled. A landfill where untreated garbage was once buried in a hillside has been permanently closed.

The island has already been producing most of its own electricity since 2019, using a solar park and a wind turbine hooked up to trailer-sized batteries that maintain an uninterrupted supply.

S-shaped and slightly larger than Manhattan, Tilos is a far-flung member of an island chain in the southeast Aegean Sea, where most beaches are empty, goats roam next to centuries-old churches and the sawtooth mountains smell of wild oregano. Self reliance is a necessity here and a source of pride.

So is embracing technology.

At the main port, electric vehicles hum past tourists, transporting goods. Solar panels power bus stop information boards and a ramp that gives people with disabilities access to the sea.

Mayor Maria Kamma-Aliferi said Tilos’ dwindling population added urgency to making changes. “In the 1990s there were 270 people left on this island. There were very few births. The school was in danger of closing because it had so few kids – I was one of them,” she said.

“And the island came close to being fully deserted.”

But the mayor stayed on the island and took university correspondence courses to put herself through business school and learn about public administration.

“We came close to the brink, and I think that is what motivates us now,” she said, standing at the site of the old landfill where flowers have now been planted.

With tourism in the Mediterranean set to rebound this summer after the worst of the pandemic, many Greek islands face an urgent strain on their resources: a lack of drinking water and a reliance on diesel to produce electricity as energy prices continue to soar.

Greece has about 200 populated islands, many of which still experience rolling blackouts in the summer and struggle to cope with overflowing landfills, normally hidden in the hills.

Tilos is expecting 30,000 visitors this summer, while the nearby island of Rhodes is set to receive more than 2 million by air alone.

Starting in December, Tilos piloted a home trash pickup scheme, with residents handed recycling kits and asked to wash and separate household waste.

“It’s working. We started with 10 houses and we’re now up to more than 400,” said Athanasios Polychronopoulos, who heads a Greek recycling firm, Polygreen, that offered the service for free, hoping to expand its model.

“This is an island community that’s open to change. It volunteered to take in refugees and held Greece’s first same-sex partnership ceremony. We had other options but we knew we had to start here,” he said.

The old landfill site has been replaced with a recycling plant where trash is separated on steel sorting tables to produce powdered glass, cement mix, compost fertilizer, compressed cardboard and paper drums, and plastic twine that an art gallery uses to make 3D printed couches and furniture.

The plant currently processes around 2 tons of waste per week, most of which is fully recycled. Roughly a third is composted, and 15% — classed as “non-recyclable” — is sterilized and shredded to be used in construction.

The company uses a proprietary app to prepare for incoming waste weighed at each house pickup. It has not released financial details of the scheme.

“We’re still making mistakes and learning,” Polychronopoulos said. “To our surprise, older people are the best at separating the waste. It makes sense, if you think about it: They can remember what things were like before there was plastic.”

Some residents can also remember when spotting a passing ship off the coast of Tilos was a rare sight. Rhodes is still two hours away by ferry; the Greek mainland is 15.

“We always wondered where all the plastic would go. And in the back of our minds we always felt we should do something about it,” says seaside restaurant owner Nikos Atsiknoudas.

Between meal prep, waiting tables and clearing them for new customers, staff tip everything into color-coded bins.

“It is extra work but no one can argue about the long-term benefit,” he says. “We have a lot of foreign visitors. They are more used to recycling than we are and they love it.”

Official visits to Tilos are rare and greeted with fanfare, with children in traditional costumes assembled at the harbor. The most recent was Greece’s energy and environment minister, Costas Skrekas, who arrived Tuesday with aides from the prime minister’s office to tour the new recycling plant.

“Our small islands face difficulties due to the distance from the mainland and the (environmental) burden from tourism,” he said after meeting schoolchildren at a recycling awareness class.

“Once again, the beautiful island of Tilos is a pioneer.”

___

Follow Gatopoulos at https://twitter.com/dgatopoulos

___

Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


              A bag is placed at a recycling plant built on old landfill site on the Aegean Sea island of Tilos, southeastern Greece, Monday, May 9, 2022. When deciding where to test green tech, Greek policymakers picked the remotest point on the map, tiny Tilos. Providing electricity and basic services, and even access by ferry is all a challenge for this island of just 500 year-round inhabitants. It's latest mission: Dealing with plastic. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
            
              An elderly resident tends to a patch of herbs outside his store on the Aegean Sea island of Tilos, southeastern Greece, Tuesday, May 10, 2022. When deciding where to test green tech, Greek policymakers picked the remotest point on the map, tiny Tilos. Providing electricity and basic services, and even access by ferry is all a challenge for this island of just 500 year-round inhabitants. It's latest mission: Dealing with plastic. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
            
              A Greek Orthodox priest walks in front of Agios Nikolaos church on the Aegean Sea island of Tilos, southeastern Greece, Tuesday, May 10, 2022. When deciding where to test green tech, Greek policymakers picked the remotest point on the map, tiny Tilos. Providing electricity and basic services, and even access by ferry is all a challenge for this island of just 500 year-round inhabitants. It's latest mission: Dealing with plastic. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
            
              Hotel owner Akis Sartzetakis and his friend are reflected in a mirror as three men jog past next to the beach on the Aegean Sea island of Tilos, southeastern Greece, Tuesday, May 10, 2022. When deciding where to test green tech, Greek policymakers picked the remotest point on the map, tiny Tilos. Providing electricity and basic services, and even access by ferry is all a challenge for this island of just 500 year-round inhabitants. It's latest mission: Dealing with plastic. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
            
              The sun sets behind electricity posts on the Aegean Sea island of Tilos, southeastern Greece, Monday, May 9, 2022. When deciding where to test green tech, Greek policymakers picked the remotest point on the map, tiny Tilos. Providing electricity and basic services, and even access by ferry is all a challenge for this island of just 500 year-round inhabitants. It's latest mission: Dealing with plastic. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
            
              Deputy Mayor Spyros Aliferis charges the electricity municipal bus on the Aegean Sea island of Tilos, southeastern Greece, Monday, May 9, 2022. When deciding where to test green tech, Greek policymakers picked the remotest point on the map, tiny Tilos. Providing electricity and basic services, and even access by ferry is all a challenge for this island of just 500 year-round inhabitants. It's latest mission: Dealing with plastic. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
            
              Deputy Mayor Spyros Aliferis checks a battery installation on the Aegean Sea island of Tilos, southeastern Greece, Monday, May 9, 2022. When deciding where to test green tech, Greek policymakers picked the remotest point on the map, tiny Tilos. Providing electricity and basic services, and even access by ferry is all a challenge for this island of just 500 year-round inhabitants. It's latest mission: Dealing with plastic. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
            
              Deputy Mayor Spyros Aliferis checks a battery installation on the Aegean Sea island of Tilos, southeastern Greece, Monday, May 9, 2022. When deciding where to test green tech, Greek policymakers picked the remotest point on the map, tiny Tilos. Providing electricity and basic services, and even access by ferry is all a challenge for this island of just 500 year-round inhabitants. It's latest mission: Dealing with plastic. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
            
              A wind turbine operates on the Aegean Sea island of Tilos, southeastern Greece, Monday, May 9, 2022. When deciding where to test green tech, Greek policymakers picked the remotest point on the map, tiny Tilos. Providing electricity and basic services, and even access by ferry is all a challenge for this island of just 500 year-round inhabitants. It's latest mission: Dealing with plastic. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
            
              Recycle plant workers crew members separate waste on a sorting bench on the Aegean Sea island of Tilos, southeastern Greece, Monday, May 9, 2022. When deciding where to test green tech, Greek policymakers picked the remotest point on the map, tiny Tilos. Providing electricity and basic services, and even access by ferry is all a challenge for this island of just 500 year-round inhabitants. It's latest mission: Dealing with plastic. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
            
              Waste collection crew members load trash for recycling into a truck on the Aegean Sea island of Tilos, southeastern Greece, Monday, May 9, 2022. When deciding where to test green tech, Greek policymakers picked the remotest point on the map, tiny Tilos. Providing electricity and basic services, and even access by ferry is all a challenge for this island of just 500 year-round inhabitants. It's latest mission: Dealing with plastic. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
            
              Waste collection crew member uses a portable scale to weight trash for recycling on the Aegean Sea island of Tilos, southeastern Greece, Monday, May 9, 2022. When deciding where to test green tech, Greek policymakers picked the remotest point on the map, tiny Tilos. Providing electricity and basic services, and even access by ferry is all a challenge for this island of just 500 year-round inhabitants. It's latest mission: Dealing with plastic. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
            
              An elderly woman takes a recycling bag after workers collected trash from her house on the Aegean Sea island of Tilos, southeastern Greece, Monday, May 9, 2022. When deciding where to test green tech, Greek policymakers picked the remotest point on the map, tiny Tilos. Providing electricity and basic services, and even access by ferry is all a challenge for this island of just 500 year-round inhabitants. It's latest mission: Dealing with plastic. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
            
              A worker collects waste to be recycled from a house owner on the Aegean Sea island of Tilos, southeastern Greece, Monday, May 9, 2022. When deciding where to test green tech, Greek policymakers picked the remotest point on the map, tiny Tilos. Providing electricity and basic services, and even access by ferry is all a challenge for this island of just 500 year-round inhabitants. It's latest mission: Dealing with plastic. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
            
              Workers collect domestic waste to be recycled on the Aegean Sea island of Tilos, southeastern Greece, Monday, May 9, 2022. When deciding where to test green tech, Greek policymakers picked the remotest point on the map, tiny Tilos. Providing electricity and basic services, and even access by ferry is all a challenge for this island of just 500 year-round inhabitants. It's latest mission: Dealing with plastic. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
            
              The shadows of visitors are seen on the old landfill on the Aegean Sea island of Tilos, southeastern Greece, Monday, May 9, 2022. When deciding where to test green tech, Greek policymakers picked the remotest point on the map, tiny Tilos. Providing electricity and basic services, and even access by ferry is all a challenge for this island of just 500 year-round inhabitants. It's latest mission: Dealing with plastic. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
            
              The sun sets behind a wind turbine on the Aegean Sea island of Tilos, southeastern Greece, Monday, May 9, 2022. When deciding where to test green tech, Greek policymakers picked the remotest point on the map, tiny Tilos. Providing electricity and basic services, and even access by ferry is all a challenge for this island of just 500 year-round inhabitants. It's latest mission: Dealing with plastic. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
            A ferry departs from Livadia port on the Aegean Sea island of Tilos, southeastern Greece, Monday, May 9, 2022. When deciding where to test green tech, Greek policymakers picked the remotest point on the map, tiny Tilos. Providing electricity and basic services, and even access by ferry is all a challenge for this island of just 500 year-round inhabitants. It's latest mission: Dealing with plastic. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis) A worker separates waste at a recycling plant built on old landfill site on the Aegean Sea island of Tilos, southeastern Greece, Monday, May 9, 2022. When deciding where to test green tech, Greek policymakers picked the remotest point on the map, tiny Tilos. Providing electricity and basic services, and even access by ferry is all a challenge for this island of just 500 year-round inhabitants. It's latest mission: Dealing with plastic. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis) A worker separates waste at a recycling plant built on old landfill site on the Aegean Sea island of Tilos, southeastern Greece, Monday, May 9, 2022. When deciding where to test green tech, Greek policymakers picked the remotest point on the map, tiny Tilos. Providing electricity and basic services, and even access by ferry is all a challenge for this island of just 500 year-round inhabitants. It's latest mission: Dealing with plastic. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis) A worker takes out from a compressor cartons at a recycling plant built on old landfill site on the Aegean Sea island of Tilos, southeastern Greece, Monday, May 9, 2022. When deciding where to test green tech, Greek policymakers picked the remotest point on the map, tiny Tilos. Providing electricity and basic services, and even access by ferry is all a challenge for this island of just 500 year-round inhabitants. It's latest mission: Dealing with plastic. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis) Founder and CEO of Polygreen recycling company Athanasios Polychronopoulos points toward a display showing data at a recycling plant built on old landfill site on the Aegean Sea island of Tilos, southeastern Greece, Monday, May 9, 2022. When deciding where to test green tech, Greek policymakers picked the remotest point on the map, tiny Tilos. Providing electricity and basic services, and even access by ferry is all a challenge for this island of just 500 year-round inhabitants. It's latest mission: Dealing with plastic. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis) Tilos Mayor Maria Kamma-Aliferi poses for a photograph in front of the island's map as the phrase reads in Greek "The future starts from zero" at a recycling plant built on old landfill site on the Aegean Sea island of Tilos, southeastern Greece, Monday, May 9, 2022. When deciding where to test green tech, Greek policymakers picked the remotest point on the map, tiny Tilos. Providing electricity and basic services, and even access by ferry is all a challenge for this island of just 500 year-round inhabitants. It's latest mission: Dealing with plastic. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

AP

FILE - U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz listens during a news conference, Jan. 5, 2023, in Washi...

Associated Press

US Border Patrol chief is retiring after seeing through end of Title 42 immigration restrictions

The head of the U.S. Border Patrol announced Tuesday that he was retiring, after seeing through a major policy shift that seeks to clamp down on illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border following the end of Title 42 pandemic restrictions.

1 day ago

FILE - President Joe Biden talks with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of Calif., on the House steps as...

Associated Press

House OKs debt ceiling bill to avoid default, sends Biden-McCarthy deal to Senate

The House approved a debt ceiling and budget cuts package late Wednesday, as President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy assembled a bipartisan coalition of centrist Democrats and Republicans against fierce conservative blowback and progressive dissent.

1 day ago

Sean Bickings (Family Photo via city of Tempe)...

Associated Press

Family of man who drowned last year in Tempe Town Lake files wrongful death lawsuit

The family of a man who drowned in Tempe Town Lake a year ago filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city Wednesday, noting that its police department doesn't have a policy requiring officers to go into the water to save someone.

1 day ago

(Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP)Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS...

Associated Press

Florida police search for 3 gunmen who wounded 9 at crowded beach on Memorial Day

Police are responding to a shooting near the beach broadwalk in Hollywood, Florida.

3 days ago

Crew members assemble the main stage ahead of the 2023 Scripps Nations Spelling Bee on Sunday, May ...

Associated Press

Exclusive secrets of the National Spelling Bee: Picking the words to identify a champion

As the final pre-competition meeting of the Scripps National Spelling Bee's word selection panel stretches into its seventh hour, the pronouncers no longer seem to care.

3 days ago

FILE - Gabby Petito's mother Nichole Schmidt, wipes a tear from her face during a news conference o...

Associated Press

Mother of man who killed Gabby Petito said in letter she would help son ‘dispose of a body’

The mother of the man who killed Gabby Petito told her son in an undated letter that she would “dispose of a body” if needed because she loved him so much, according to copies of the note shared publicly for the first time this week by attorneys for Petito's parents.

6 days ago

Sponsored Articles

...

OCD & Anxiety Treatment Center

5 mental health myths you didn’t know were made up

Helping individuals understand mental health diagnoses like obsessive compulsive spectrum disorder or generalized anxiety disorder isn’t always an easy undertaking. After all, our society tends to spread misconceptions about mental health like wildfire. This is why being mindful about how we talk about mental health is so important. We can either perpetuate misinformation about already […]

...

re:vitalize

Why drug-free weight loss still matters

Wanting to lose weight is a common goal for many people as they progress throughout life, but choosing between a holistic approach or to take medicine can be a tough decision.

(Photo by Michael Matthey/picture alliance via Getty Images)...

Cox Communications

Valley Boys & Girls Club uses esports to help kids make healthy choices

KTAR’s Community Spotlight focuses on the Boys & Girls Club of the Valley and the work to incorporate esports into children's lives.

Battery-powered Greek island bets on green future