Waste and Commons: Some aspects and facts

1. Waste and Commons:Some aspects and facts Michalis Fotiadis Mataroa Ikaria 17-7-2013

2. Some thoughts… • Waste and commons • Waste and the new business in Greece • Waste in Ikaria • Participatory workshop

3. “OUR” GARBAGE “... the necessary and yet unspoken component of production. We make it invisible by not looking at it and unthinkable by not thinking of it. ” (Bauman, 2004) When? When concentrated to the landfills in large amounts

4. GARBAGE - COMMONS ifconcentrated threatens: Public commons ( health) Natural commons (land, water) Environmental commons (air quality, fauna, flora) (Κωστάκης,2008) But… A part of it may “return” as an offer to the common property from the private one. (Exchange Networks – Solidarity Bazaars)

5. The present situation in Greece • The infrastructure of waste collection (a public common) is given as a gift to contractors • In Athens (district of Attica) 4 huge plants of waste processing are planned with total cost 450 m €. • 200 m € state contribution with public money EU demands for reduce waste by 50% in 2020 Waste is reduced by 30% due to “crisis” BUT In the CONTRACT there is guarantied waste production for 27 years (contractors will be paid anyway)

6. OUR GODFATHERS € Ikaria:110 wind turbines Chalkidiki: 0,4 Hectares of primitive forest for a gold mine

7. Fiancées from abroad German contractors need to sell us their old fashionwaste management technology they don’t use anymore Waste factories: La grande bouffe of contractors POE OTA - Aris Hatzistefanou

8. With the present situation a family with 4 members is charged by 30 €/year for waste management. With this new deal the same family is charged by 100 €/year (Οικονομόπουλος, 2012) Finally: The dominant political system preserves the today’s landfill situation in order to present contractors as deus ex machine

9. Some responses • Initiatives of citizens demanding alternative solutions with collective and sociopolitical actions • Decentralized policy in waste management Active citizens denied to accept landfills (ΧΥΤΑ-Sanitary Waste Disposal) in their land. Not because of the very simplified explanation of the selfish NIMBY syndrome but raising issues of equity, fairness, and lack of trust in state officials and scientists (Botetzagias,2009)

10. Mykonos Collective initiation for social waste management This association is based on the principles of social and solidarist economy and direct democracy

11. The situation in Ikaria • Central state is completely absent. Funding for our Municipality is less than it was before (1/3). • Last year we experienced once that deus ex machine or Messias phenomenon. • It was composting and charged local authority with 12000 € public money.

12. Ikaria-waste disposal-commons For a period more than thirty years waste of the local Municipality was burning in a landfill in Katafygi village Dioxins were getting into the people’s houses

13. 2008: People of Katafygi and surrounded villages decided to say “no” to the burning of garbage and to close the garbage dump for two weeks. They demanded for the protection of their health They claimed for their clean air, water, land They claimed for their right to decide about their lives They acted collectively

14. Press release 30-1-2008 Here, in this place we have occupied, every day we realize our power, when all together try to solve our problems As an immediate priority we demand for appropriate infrastructure of protection our health, human and natural environment

15. This local movement brought to the surface important issues like the conservation of natural resources, active participation, solidarity and collective searching for solutions and, most important: empowerment(Fotiadis,2012). Praxis: The combination of activism and rational activity of critical thinking (Freire, 1993) Finally they succeed to stop burning the waste and the local authorities been forced to start a recycling program.

16. Ikaria-waste-commons 3rd Exchange bazaar of Ikaria EXCHANGE BAZAAR EXCHANGE AND SOLIDARITY NETWORK Clothes Toys Books Music Furniture Ideas

17. Participatory workshop • Non formal environmental education or • based on community learning: • important instrument of interference • Characteristics • Participation • collaborative learning • development of critical thinking • values clarification • action • Connects reality to the needs of citizens for knowledge and understanding. (Deri, 2005)

18. Education for environmental issues must be based on initiatives of local people exploring local problems (Robottom, 2004, Tilbury, 2008). Citizens through processes of : • Empowerment • capacity building • discourse production are more organized, deliberated and demand for a better quality of life (Fagan, 2009).

19. The story of stuff (Anie Leonard) DISPOSAL CONSUMPTION EXTRACTION PRODUCTION DISTRIBUTION Participants are invited "to discover" in an experiential way the steps of the circle or the "story" of a product

20. Participants using their daily experiential relation with the products they consume are asked to: • refer their followed practices for waste disposal • suggest their solutions • suggest actions (in the sense of immediate intervention) taken in a community level Furthermore this workshop aims to set of the process itself as “innovation” that could contribute to the development of a well organized dialogue related to issues the members of the community concern about.