Tilos officially became the first Certified Zero Waste Municipality in Greece and at the same time the first island worldwide that managed to gain such accreditation.

Obtaining 4 out of 5 stars in the Zero Waste Cities Certification, the dedication and willingness of the island to overcome structural problems affecting the entire waste management system is what Ismael Casotti, auditor at ZERO - Associação Sistema Terrestre Sustentável appointed to certify the island, praised.

George Hadjimarkos, South Aegean Regional Governor and President of FOSDA South Aegean says in his statements «what is happening in Tilos is truly a revolution».
«We do not wait for the future to come, we plan it in advance and we make it happen today, with our actions.».

«With the cooperation of all households and businesses on the island, the Municipality, the Polygreen network of companies and the South Aegean Region through the Solid Waste Management Authority», said Maria Kamma, Mayor of Tilos, and continues «Tilos has managed to reach one of the highest rates worldwide in recycling and composting, which is almost 90%. Dumpsters were abolished, landfill no longer exists and the island is Zero Waste. Tilos has become an example of sustainable tourism and development in the Aegean».

The Municipal Authority would like to thank the South Aegean Regional Governor for his support in the ambitious project that we have implemented, Polygreen for the design, and all the staff of the Municipality for the successful implementation of the project.

The new goal that we have set as a Municipal Authority is within the year to receive the 5th star and become the first Municipality in the world to receive such certification.

Two years ago, Tilos was sending 87% of its waste to landfills. As there was no effective separate collection system in place, combined with increasing tourist pressure, the municipality considered increasing the capacity of the landfills - an unsustainable solution that would lead to increased costs for expansion and daily operation.

The municipality decided to implement the Just Go Zero Tilos project, in collaboration with Polygreen, a waste management company that focuses on green solutions. Launched in June 2021, the project has implemented regular separate door-to-door waste collection, diverted all residual waste away from landfills and permanently closed all landfills.

From 770 kg of municipal solid waste per inhabitant per year generated before the implementation of the Just Go Zero Tilos project, the municipality's figure is now 440 kg - a reduction of 43%. Of this, only 54 kilograms is considered residual waste.

Obtaining 4 out of 5 stars in the Zero Waste Cities Certification, the island's dedication and willingness to overcome structural problems affecting the entire waste management system was praised by Ismael Casotti, auditor at ZERO - Associação Sistema Terrestre Sustentável appointed to certify the island.

«Not only does being a small island increase the challenges for material delivery and waste shipments,» Casotti said, «but the island is among the most remote from the capital, Athens. However, the local team and Polygreen have found a solution that should inspire all other small islands in the Mediterranean that wish to change the way they collect, separate at source and locally prescribe all waste streams that occur.».

The island has created a Cyclic Innovation Centre where all waste is transported for sorting and treatment. This includes a composting facility to create compost on site and a sorting mechanism for 15 waste streams including coffee capsules, batteries and textiles. The residues are converted into an alternative fuel. This ensures that the waste hierarchy can be closely followed for all material streams.

The Greek Zero Waste organisation Ecorec, which was also Tilos« guide on their trip, welcomed the island as the first certified Zero Waste municipality in Greece. »We applaud the efforts made to achieve such impressive results in such a short period of time and will support their next steps in their Zero Waste journey. We look forward to welcoming many other Greek municipalities and islands to the program.".

Zero Waste Cities Certification is a European third-party assessed certification standard. Created by Zero Waste Europe (ZWE) and run by its sister organisation Mission Zero Academy (MiZA), its aim is to accelerate the transition to zero waste and the implementation of the circular economy in European cities and towns at the local level.