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A week of recycling is taking place on “Constitution” square, Athens downtown, from November 2 until November 14, including activities for youngsters and adults. Various discussions and seminars on environmental protection have been planned, as well as a “recycling game” for the youngest s aiming at teaching them the importance of recycling. It is the second year the event is organized and is known as “The great recycling celebration of Athens Municipality.” It was initiated by the Municipality and is taking place under the auspices of the Ministry of Environment, Physical planning and Public Works.

Following the success and popularity of the last year’s event, the mayor of Athens, Nikitas Kaklamanis announced that the happening will become annual. During the event last year, over a hundred thousand people took part, as well as 185 426 students from all over the capital, collecting 748 269 recyclable pieces of garbage. The 32 000 kilograms of paper submitted will save 553 000 trees from being cut. The glass wastes, 1.72m, will save 20 000 kilograms of fuel, otherwise needed for glass production. The 275 thousand kilograms of aluminum submitted for recycling will replace the extraction of 1 258 445. 74 kilograms of bauxite, or, in terms of electrical energy, this means over 73 thousand hours of listening to the radio, or watching TV for 55 thousand hours.

For the first nine months of 2009, the system for reciprocal recycling has yielded close to 37m kilograms of processed waste. The system includes automatic centers for gathering of plastic, paper, glass and aluminum wastes that issue a type of a receipt that can be used for discounts in some supermarkets or be given to charity. In this year’s event, students from all Athenian schools will participate and the most active will be rewarded. The special prizes prepared by the Municipality, include a group trip to France, where the students will have the opportunity to visit the biggest plastic recycling company in Europe and, of course, visit Disney Paris theme park. Besides the trip, the winners will receive a bicycle and a video game.