With gloves and seed balls for the Environment

A “rain” of seed balls, dozens of bags of collected garbage and a lot of information was the result of yesterday’s action by EYATH at the old tanneries of Thessaloniki, in collaboration with the Region of Central Macedonia, for World Environment Day.

Students from the 2nd Primary School of Kalochori and the 4th Primary School of Kordelio cleaned, with special equipment, the coast next to the old tanneries and were informed about the sorting of waste and its decomposition time. Then the children formed pellets with acacia and honey seeds using the Fukuoka method (a natural cultivation method in Japan) and threw them into the surrounding area. With the help of the environmental group “Echedorou Physis”, they were informed about the importance of sustainable development practices such as this tree planting, they made badges with slogans about the environment, they painted in the “Nature Workshop” and they left with a pot of seeds for… practicing gardening at home.

“The messages of the World Environment Day in support of regeneration, care and protection of the Environment could perhaps not find a more suitable ground to ‘‘fruit’’ than the western coastal front of Thessaloniki, after its extensive cleaning and sanitation by the Region of Central Macedonia”, pointed out the Deputy Governor of Thessaloniki, Kostas Gioutikas. “We have revealed in Thessaloniki the environmental paradise that was hidden for decades under the rubble and in the action that we organized with EYATH, with the young generation as the protagonist, we are sending a resounding message that this place must be protected by all of us, so that the open wound of pollution and degradation that it constituted for decades, remains in the past”, added Mr. Gioutikas.

“World Environment Day is a reminder of the responsibility we have – as businesses and as citizens – to protect and restore our natural environment. This year’s presence of EYATH in an area once burdened by human activity together with our tomorrow’s active citizens, the children, is not just a symbolic act: it is an investment in the future. Through environmental awareness programs and participatory actions, such as this one, we give young people the opportunity to understand the importance of sustainable development in practice, anticipating a more responsible, more aware and ultimately more resilient society. Therefore, protecting the environment is not a choice, it is a duty. And this duty at EYATH is honored daily through collaborations and actions with a real footprint”, pointed out Ioanna Dovletoglou, member of the Board of Directors of the company, on behalf of EYATH.

Tree plantings in areas such as old tanneries, which have been burdened by pollution and industrial activity, constitute an important step for their sustainable reconstruction. The abandoned buildings of the old tanneries, next to the port of Thessaloniki, were demolished in 2024 as part of an emblematic intervention by the Region of Central Macedonia for the cleaning, sanitation and promotion of the western coastal front.

This year’s World Environment Day calls for collective action against plastic pollution, which according to the UN has even reached the human body in the form of microplastics. Sustainable recycling practices, a circular economy and a global treaty to end plastic pollution across the planet are now of utmost necessity.