ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIONS/ COLLABORATIONSEnvironment and Quality
We should take good care of the drainage!
Clean drains, clean environment!
We at EYATH fight every day to keep our drainage and environment clean!
More than 1,000 times a year, our crews unclog drains that have been blocked by solid waste: toilet paper, napkins, swabs, cloths, batteries, medicine and especially food scraps that are the basic food for insects and rodents!
An average household throws over a liter of cooking grease and oil down the kitchen drain every year, or to put it another way, about 8 teaspoons of grease end up down our household drains!
All of this causes blockages in the internal networks of houses and businesses and creates problems in pumping stations and sewage installations, which is translated in valuable time and costs for repairs and maintenance.
So we don’t throw solid waste into the drains and the kitchen sink. We throw it in the bins and, depending on the waste, we also choose the special bins for recycling.
Help us keep our drains and marine environment clean! And don’t forget: Drainage with grease? No,thank you!
Lets meet at the public fountains!
World Water Day 2024 is dedicated by the United Nations to the need to work together for equal access to water resources for all people, so that water becomes the catalyst for a more peaceful world.
We drink clean, healthy water from public taps in our city!
We protect the environment from single-use plastics!
According to Law 4736/2020, which was passed by the Greek Parliament incorporating the European Directive 2019/904, as of July 1, 2021, municipalities and communities that have a drinking water network have the obligation to have communal taps in municipal sports facilities and playgrounds. They also have an obligation to extend their network of public taps to the limits of their jurisdiction, encouraging the use of multi-use packaging to protect the environment.
In the framework of Corporate Governance and, in particular, Corporate Social Responsibility, which ensures the balanced growth of the company to the benefit of its employees, consumers and shareholders, EYATH S.A. implements environmental actions with a view to the generations to come, which expect to take over a world that respects man and the environment.
EYATH collaborates with official agencies (municipalities, universities, associations, clubs) in matters of environmental protection and sustainability. The company is gradually opening up discussions with grassroots movements on the transformation and protection of public space and the urban environment. Furthermore, it supports or undertakes environmental volunteering actions in order to strengthen the local community’s ecological awareness. After all, sustainable development constitutes a dynamic path towards adjustment in order to satisfy the needs of the present generation, and to ensure the needs of future generations. Economic development, environmental protection and social cohesion are the three indicators that determine EYATH’s synergies at the local level. Having started an honest and well-founded dialogue between interested parties, EYATH responds to every collective or individual invitation to create the framework and policies for sustainability and growth in collaboration with the State, businesses, NGOs and agencies broadly representing civil society.
The company also has a strong presence in matters pertaining to the resilience of cities, the ultimate goal being, once again, to secure the future of our city and its built environment in the face of the “pressures” exerted by climate change. The support of environmental infrastructure in the urban fabric, the effective utilisation of waste, sustainable and fair energy policies, as well as the resilience of urban water bodies are basic parameters for the resilience of a city. Water bodies, especially, constitute the driving force that gives life to cities, creates an intricate web of interrelated (natural, environmental, cultural and socio-economic) mechanisms and eventually causes the interaction of a diverse group of institutions, agencies and social partners.
When edible fats and oils enter the sewer system it cool and solidify, reducing the capacity of the pipes and often causing blockages and overflows.
We protect our home kitchen from the waste of edible fats and oils by collecting the used cooking oils in containers, after they have cooled, giving them for recycling. We thus save time and money from possible blockages and floods in our kitchen.
If you are a company owner, the uncontrolled entry of this waste into the network is a more serious threat for your business. Common problems that occur are:
- blockages and overflows within the store pipes
- business malfunction during fault recovery
- stench
- presence of insects and rodents
- administrative costs for solving the problems
- customer dissatisfaction
- non-compliance with the company’s legal obligations.
By properly managing and disposing of the waste that “comes out” of your kitchen, you avoid causing blockages and overflows, as well as all the above that damage the image of your business.
On World Environment Day 2022, volunteers from EYATH and Thessaloniki delivered to Kalochori a “‘Red Road’ ready to walk on, to embrace” in the summer months, responding to the call of EYATH, the Development and Environment Vice-region of the Central Macedonia Region ( PKM) and the team “Echedorou Physis”.
As part of this voluntary action, tree trunks were painted, tamarisk trees were planted, benches, bridges and the information sign of the area were maintained, while the foundations were also laid for a light shelter for walkers to rest. The volunteers, who braved the high temperatures, were also given organic products and token gifts with the day’s hashtag #OnlyOneEarth.
“‘We only have one Earth.’ We must follow this slogan which is also the slogan of the celebration of World Environment Day by the UN. And that’s what we do. We have a lot of work ahead of us,” said the Deputy Minister of the Interior, responsible for Macedonia-Thrace issues, Stavros Kalafatis. “We choose today to send a clear message of environmental protection from this area, which based on our planning will be the new landmark of Thessaloniki and Northern Greece”, pointed out the regional governor of Central Macedonia, Apostolos Tzitzikostas. “In one of the most beautiful locations of Thessaloniki, we are sending a resounding message that the environment needs our care. With the present climate crisis, this need is imperative”, added the Deputy Regional Governor for Development and Environment of the Greek Orthodox Church, Kostas Youtikas. Voula Patoulidou, deputy regional governor of the Metropolitan Unity of Thessaloniki, spoke about the need for “all 365 days of the year to be environment days”, as well as the need to preserve and highlight areas “such as the Kalochori lagoon that foreigners honor and visit”.
“Days like today are an opportunity and a reminder that we have one planet and therefore we have an obligation to do everything we can to be able to mitigate the effects and reduce our own, anthropogenic impact on the environment. EYATH, with initiatives like today’s, signals its intention to manage the region’s water potential with the required respect and to contribute wherever else it can to countering the effects of the climate crisis”, said EYATH’s president, Agis Papadopoulos.
“Unfortunately, we all now experience the climate crisis in our homes: severe storms, unpredictable temperature changes, fires, drought. We are here, in a corporate volunteering initiative, to remind that we can change the… climate by our action as individuals, as businesses, as a society. The lagoon of Kalochori and its ‘Red Road’ with flamingos, this alternative walk of the Thessalonians, is the most suitable place for a symbolic action, such as that of EYATH”, pointed out the managing director of EYATH, Anthimos Amanatidis.
“We are happy all of us gathered here, we renewed the ‘Red Road’ after many years, now we have to embrace it, walk it, let it become our way out of our daily stress”, noted the representative of the environmental group “Echedorou Fysis”, George Konstantinidis.
The great School of Nature
In the center of Thessaloniki with two stands and in the new, “green” house of the “Lighthouse of the World” in Dendropotamos, EYATH celebrated the World Environment Day 2021.
The stands were set up in central parts of the city, in Agia Sofia St. and in Kamara, and passerby citizens were informed about the topic of the global celebration of 2021, the need to restore the natural environment to achieve the 17 goals of Sustainable Development by 2030. Pots with organic soil and seeds, bookmarks with seeds but also informative material with 10 tips for a more sustainable way of life was the contribution of EYATH to the residents of Thessaloniki.
“Our action is a symbolic call to our fellow citizens to take the environment into our own hands, individually and collectively, in order to reduce the effects of climate change – on a micro-scale, of course, for everyone.” One more tree in the urban area, a pot in our balcony can make a difference “, pointed out the CEO of EYATH SA, Anthimos Amanatidis.
At the same time, EYATH responded to the request of “Faros” for the creation of an experiential garden at the center for the protection of minors in Dendropotamos, after the tree planting and creation of a vegetable garden in 2019. “From the beginning of 2020 the children of Faros and the people we live with them and having taken care of them, we had the joy and the honor to move to our new home. Now, thanks to the kind sponsorship of EYATH, we will soon install a system for collecting rainwater from our roofs, for the watering of the fruit trees that we are going to plant in our yard, but also for the vegetable garden that we are going to create in raised flower beds. It is the garden of salvation for difficult times. “These works are like introductory lessons for the great School of Nature, which we expect to fascinate our children and open new horizons for them”, notes for the action the “soul” of the Lighthouse, Father Athenagoras
Bring us the oil from your pan to recycle it!
EYATH, in collaboration with “Revive”, collects used cooking oil and sends it for recycling in order to produce biodiesel.
Why does EYATH collect oil? Because the oils thrown in sinks and toilets cause blockages in the pipes and pumping stations of our sewerage network, while they need additional treatment in our biological treatment plants. Our company spends thousands of euros every year and many working hours to clean our network due to the disposal of used edible oils in domestic sewers and sewers of health stores. So it is an issue that concerns us directly! However, the oils that end up outside the sewerage network pollute our marine environment and the aquifer of our region. We therefore collect and recycle our oil, because above all it is ecological, it has to do with the viability of the water resources of our place, Thessaloniki!
Why biodiesel? Biodiesel is an alternative fuel, biodegradable, environmentally friendly, with reduced emissions of soot and carbon dioxide. Its use helps reduce the effects of the greenhouse effect.
EYATH employees and our consumers throw their oil in the special bins of the company’s facilities in the packaging of their convenience. The points where bins are placed are:
- In our headquarters, Tsimiski 91 St.
- At our offices in Tsimiski 98 St. (Diagonios)
- At our branch in Vardaris, 26th October 26 St. opposite the courthouse
- At the Water Museum, 26th October 17 St., next to FIX
- At our facilities in Nea Paralia next to the former “Interni” – “Maison”, M. Alexandrou Ave. 6, St.
Every cooking oil is recycled, from seed oil to kernel oil.
Resilience and water
At the local level and in response to the invitation extended by the Municipality of Thessaloniki, EYATH has since the summer of 2018 been participating in the “City Water Resilience Framework – CWRF” programme managed by ARUP and 100 Resilient Cities. The aim of the programme is to develop an international model framework for the assessment of resilience in the field of water, which each city will be able to apply to its water district (City Water Basin), drawing specific information on a Resilient City Water Management System. This approach aims to attach added influence to cities, as a cohesive force among partners from across the entire drainage basin, for the purpose of jointly making decisions, always in the direction of resilience.
In the future, all cities will be able to use this framework (CWRF) in order to:
- Identify the weakest (non-resilient) points in its water management.
- Strengthen these points by applying optimal, coherent decisions.
- Manage the complexity of urban water bodies with greater ease and understand how they can become more resilient.
At the present time, Thessaloniki is participating in the second cycle of the programme (WAVE2 cities). The first cycle involved the participation of the following cities: Amman, Cape town, Hull, Mexico City and Greater Miami and the Beaches.
The bottom of the sea… a rubbish dump!
One of EYATH’s most recent environmental actions was its collaboration with the volunteer divers from Aegean Rebreath and Northern Greece Underwater Explorers, on the occasion of World Environment Day 2018. The action involved the retrieval of rubbish from the bottom of the sea at the marina of Kalamaria (Fishing Sanctuary), the collection, careful sorting and recycling of this rubbish in special waste bins provided by the Municipality of Kalamaria, as well as a coastal clean-up. The participating volunteers were notified of the need to clean up the seas and coasts on the one hand, and to recycle and reuse the waste on the other. A total of 500 kilograms of rubbish was collected (nets, plastic and glass bottles, boat batteries, plastic furniture, etc.), while the coastal clean-up resulted – in just a few hours – in 47 refuse bags of rubbish containing mainly plastic containers!
EYATH made “Faros” green!
An urban vegetable garden, figs, cherries, acacias and a spontaneous “seminar” of environmental education for the little Roma, left behind the “green” action of EYATH at the new Youth Center “Faros Tou Kosmou” (Lighthouse of the World) in Dendropotamos, on the occasion of the celebration of the World Environment Day 2019.
EYATH proposed to make “Faros” green. A celebration that started some time ago with the company’s participation in the construction of the new children’s home, donating to us the extension of the water and sewerage network, was completed today with the planting of vegetables and fruit trees in the area. Whenever we cut a fruit or pick up a salad, we will remember our friends at EYATH, which they have now become part of the large family of “Faros”, said the “heart and soul” of the center, Father Athenagoras.
Deputy Environment Minister Socrates Femmelos, who explained to the children of “Faros” what climate change means, and above all what it means to “change my life for the environment”, praised the initiative of the EYATH board for tree planting “in an area with significant environmental needs “. It is now being implemented an important project, by EYATH that completes the sewerage of all Thessaloniki, including at last – after many years – the low western regions. These projects will also immediately improve the environment in Dendropotamos, stopping the untreated outflows. Last year, EYATH also cleaned the trench of Dendropotamos within the framework of Corporate Social Responsibility, as well as the choice we have as a government to improve the state of the environment without hiding behind responsibilities, “he added.
“The World Environment Day was combined this year with a review of the government’s environmental project, but also with a commitment: we must all revolutionize our everyday life. Facing the great problems of climate change, the need to have sustainable development and social cohesion, and for children in Dendropotamos to also find their role in life, wishes and global agreements are not enough, it is necessary to change our personal example ” , concluded Mr. Famellos.
“In the context of World Environment Day, the company decided to strengthen the new home of Father Athenagoras, a symbolic initiative for the need to strengthen the efforts to upgrade the western regions of Thessaloniki, so that the development of the whole urban area could be achieved. EYATH also reinforces this effort by taking the cost of linking the new youth protection center to the water supply and sewerage networks. Above all, after decades of negligence, our administration has begun the completion of the drainage project of the Dendropotamos area so that it finally stops bleeding this environmental wound with the untreated sewage in the area! “, stressed the chairman and CEO of EYATH, Professor Yiannis N. Krestenitis.
“If we are motivated with actions like this, which show that even in our neighborhood, in our yard, we can achieve important things but also by exerting greater political and economic pressure, we can now save our planet,” said the former Minister of Justice – MP of SYRIZA, professor AUTH Nicos Paraskevopoulos, while the Deputy Mayor of Technical Services of the Municipality of Abelokipi – Menemeni, Vasilis Manolopoulos, pointed out the permanent support of the municipality in the important work of Father Athenagoras.
The trees were offered by the Department of Forestry of the Aristotle University, the vegetables were offered by the “Sporophita Vasilikon”(Seeds of Vasilika) (N. Alexiou), while the American Farm School – Perrotis College donated olive trees, flowers, materials and much work!
