The rubbish in Heraklion will soon be as visible from space as the Great Wall of China, write some commentators. There are also difficulties with waste separation in Rethymno.
Everyone’s heard the claim that the Great Wall of China is the only man-made thing you can spot from space. It’s a beast of a structure, winding over 8,850 kilometers through mountains and valleys, made up of walls, trenches, and whatever else the builders could find.
But it turns out, that “seen from space” idea isn’t really accurate. Plenty of human-made stuff—and natural features, too—can be seen from space if you’re looking under the right conditions.
Still, the Great Wall’s scale and its role in history make it stand out. It’s just got that legendary status, whether or not astronauts are snapping photos of it from orbit.
Meanwhile, back down on Earth, there are problems you can’t spot from space but are impossible to ignore on the street. Take Heraklion, for example—a city where rubbish is starting to pile up in ways that are hard to miss if you’re actually there.
Mountains of garbage have become a headache for both locals and anyone visiting. It’s not exactly the postcard image people expect from Crete.
The mess isn’t simply a matter of neglect. The city’s waste management system is tangled up in a web of staffing issues.
Heraklion’s cleaning service leans heavily on temporary workers—about 60% of the crew, in fact. Thanks to some legal decisions, a big chunk of those workers are gone now; 86 left recently, and another 43 are expected to follow.
Trying to fill those gaps with new hires has been a slow crawl. In the meantime, some neighborhoods just aren’t getting their rubbish picked up.
Without any real backup plan during all this, the city’s been left wide open to a “perfect storm” of trash piling up.
Originally, using temporary contracts was supposed to be a quick fix for staff shortages. Over time, though, it turned into a bit of a political football—making it that much harder to keep a steady team on the ground.
No single administration can take all the blame for how things got here. It’s a bigger problem than just one mayor’s office.
Still, the current leadership is catching heat for dragging its feet on reorganizing city services. The mayor said this would be a top priority, but honestly, a lot of the key changes haven’t happened yet.
That’s left the city slow to react as the waste keeps piling up. Some workers even accuse city officials of letting the cleaning service fall apart on purpose, maybe to justify bringing in private contractors.
It’s a strong accusation, but no mayor wants to be the one everyone blames for the city’s trash crisis. The debate’s still raging among residents and officials alike.
Issue |
Details |
|---|---|
Dependence on Temporary Staff |
60% of cleaning workers are contract employees |
Staff Loss |
86 workers recently left; 43 more expected to leave |
Hiring Delays |
New hires not yet in place, causing gaps in service |
Political Background |
Temporary contracts started as a response to staff shortages |
Leadership Criticism |
Delays in government restructuring and waste management plans |
Worker Accusations |
Claims of intentional weakening of public services |
Public Impact |
Rubbish accumulation visible and smelt by locals and visitors |
Health authority responds to waste crisis in Heraklion with inspections and precautionary measures
The Public Health Department of the Crete Region has waded into the mess, trying to get ahead of the waste crisis in Heraklion. Their teams are out doing regular inspections wherever rubbish is piling up around bins across the city.
They’ll keep at it as long as the waste collection headaches continue. Antonis Papadakis, who heads up the department, says they’ve been swamped with complaints about bins overflowing and trash sitting out for days.
It’s not just an eyesore anymore. Rodents have already started to show up, and it’s creating conditions that could easily spiral into a genuine public health issue.
When garbage sits around for more than a day or two, it’s a buffet for rats and bugs. Plus, when organic waste breaks down, it leaks all sorts of nasty liquids onto the streets and sidewalks.
Hygiene takes a nosedive pretty quickly. If this keeps up, the health risks could get serious fast.
To be ready, the region has set aside emergency funds for pest control—even though pest management isn’t really their job, strictly speaking.
The Heraklion Municipality has announced some emergency measures to pick up rubbish more often. Health officials say those steps are decent, but they’re also pushing for more cleaning and some basic disinfection where garbage’s been collected.
If things don’t improve, the health department might suggest spraying for insects to keep pest numbers down. Mr. Papadakis has already started talking to city officials to figure out what comes next.
The department wants to help manage this whole mess, but they know it’s not just up to them. Waste disposal is everyone’s problem—municipality, regional authorities, and honestly, residents too.
People are being urged to pitch in and help keep their own neighborhoods clean, as much as they can.
Key Points |
Details |
|---|---|
Waste inspections |
Regular checks at waste accumulation sites |
Public complaints |
Overflowing bins reported by residents |
Pest risks |
Rodents and insects attracted by exposed rubbish |
Health hazards |
Organic waste liquids cause hygiene issues |
Emergency funds |
Available for pest control if needed |
Municipal measures |
Increased waste collection efforts underway |
Additional actions |
Cleaning, disinfection and possible insect spraying |
Collaboration |
Joint effort by authorities and citizens |
Serious Challenges Due to Lack of a Recycling Management Facility in Rethymno
Rethymno keeps running into trouble when it comes to managing recyclable waste. There’s still no dedicated recycling processing unit, which means nearby centres are under a lot of pressure.
Trucks hauling recyclables from Rethymno often hit roadblocks. They can’t always unload, since the external facilities get overwhelmed or run into their own issues.
One of the main headaches? The sorting centres outside Rethymno only accept so many recyclable containers each day. Local authorities end up having to send less than they’ve collected, which is frustrating.
Sometimes trucks even come back full, unable to drop off their loads. This kind of disruption just throws the whole system out of sync.
The sorting centres themselves aren’t exactly state-of-the-art. Most of the work is done by hand, not by machines.
Manual sorting struggles big time when there’s mixed waste or contamination. When non-recyclables sneak into the blue bins, things slow down and the process becomes much less efficient.
Local officials know the quality of what gets collected is a big deal. Contamination is a stubborn problem, and it’s holding Rethymno back from better recycling results.
It seems like there needs to be more public education and clearer instructions. People need to know what goes in the bins and how to prep it—otherwise, the problem just repeats itself.
Rethymno’s recycling volume is nothing to sneeze at. On busy days, up to seven waste collection vehicles are filled to the brim.
This sheer volume just highlights how much a local recycling unit is needed. Relying on distant centres isn’t really cutting it, and the inefficiencies are piling up.
Issue |
Impact |
Notes |
|---|---|---|
Absence of local facility |
Overloads external centres |
Increased transport costs and delays |
Limited acceptance quotas |
Restriction on daily recyclable intake |
Causes collection trucks to return |
Manual sorting processes |
Slow processing and high contamination rates |
Decreases recycling quality |
Mixed waste in recycling bins |
More sorting effort required |
Public education needed to reduce contamination |
High daily recycling volume |
Pressure on logistics and processing |
Highlights need for local infrastructure |
Without a modern processing plant, none of this is likely to get any easier. Rethymno’s stuck relying on out-of-date centres elsewhere, which just drives up costs and keeps recycling rates lower than they should be.
Improving recycling quality isn’t just about new machinery—it’s also about people. The local government really needs to get the word out and help folks form better recycling habits.
Little things matter, like separating waste at home and not tossing random stuff in the blue bins. If people actually do that, sorting gets a lot simpler.
This whole mess also makes it harder for Rethymno to hit its environmental goals and meet waste management rules. Clean, sorted recyclables are worth more and fill up landfills less.
Poor handling—mostly because of missing infrastructure—just undercuts those efforts and adds more strain to the environment. Not great.
If Rethymno ever gets its own recycling unit, a few things could change for the better:
- All collected recyclables could be accepted daily, no more limits
- Modern machines would speed up sorting and cut down on mistakes
- Fewer truck trips, lower emissions—everyone wins
- Higher quality recyclables could fetch better prices
- Local goals and regulations would be easier to meet
For now, the municipality has to keep working with the external centres, trying to negotiate better intake schedules and keep quality up. It’s not ideal—just a stopgap, really.
What Rethymno needs is its own proper infrastructure that can actually handle all the recyclables locals produce. Until then, it’s a bit of a juggling act.
