Greece has once again been found in breach of EU environmental law, as the European Court of Justice ruled against the country for failing to shut down the Zakynthos landfill — a site located inside the island’s National Marine Park, a protected habitat of the endangered sea turtle Caretta caretta. [1], [2]
According to the ruling, Greece will be required to pay an immediate fine of €5.5 million and an additional €12,500 for each day it continues to delay compliance with the original 2014 judgment. The court’s decision noted the country’s “poor track record in waste management” as an aggravating factor in determining the penalty.
Landfills (ΧΥΤΑ) are specially engineered disposal sites designed to prevent toxic waste from leaking into the surrounding environment.
Operating from 1996 until its eventual closure in December 2017, the landfill had been legally expanded four times and illegally several more, ultimately covering an area of about 92,000 square meters. Over its lifespan, it accumulated roughly 528,600 tons of waste — an estimated 25,000 to 27,000 tons per year — effectively functioning as an uncontrolled dump.
The 2014 ruling had already warned that the facility was “saturated and malfunctioning,” creating serious environmental and public health hazards. The latest court decision stressed that by June 2017, Greece had neither ceased operations nor presented a remediation plan, underscoring its ongoing failure to comply with EU directives on waste management and environmental protection.
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