The Green Fox Recycling Project
Skiathos is a beautiful Greek Island in the Mediteranean Sea. Because of its outstanding natural beauty and stunning beaches it is a very popular tourist destination. We are lucky enough to have plenty of water, unfortunately
this water is not suitable for drinking and therefore there is an immense use of bottled water. The island is too small to cope with these big amounts of PET plastic bottles. We only have a small landfill and so it is very urgent to recycle.
The project was started by the International Womens Club, Skiathos and has been embraced by almost the whole community. It is based on volunteer work and has been such as success because of the enthusiasm and help of many volunteers.
We make recycling a natural part of daily life.
How it Works
We have made baskets and sewn nets. These baskets with the nets inside are placed all over the island and are for collecting PET plastic bottles and aluminium cans. The baskets are emptied by us on a regular basis. The bottles
and cans are brought to our premises which we have rented. We also have a rented press. Here we sort the bottles and aluminium cans and send them pressed in bales directly to a recycling factory on the Greek mainland.
Save the Green Fox
One of the reasons that is so difficult to recycle on a small island like ours is that the costs of transport are so high. We have been able to start our project with some funding from our International Womens Club. After that,
we have relied mainly on donations and small fundraising events in the local community. These funds barely cover the cost of renting the premises, renting the press and maintenance for the baskets and nets.
A local supporter of our project donated a small truck which enabled us to collect the bottles. Unfortunately the truck has broken down beyond repair and without this we have no transport to collect the full sacks and bring them
to the Fox House for processing.
Help us purchase a new truck so we can collect, for recycling, the high number of plastic bottles and aluminium cans used during the summer tourist season starting in May. The Green Fox is an extremely challenging project
and without the facility to collect the bottles the project is in jeopardy
The Green Fox
For two years we have worked with limited resources. We are reliant on volunteers to run the project and the Green Fox is growing with support from the local community and visitors to Skiathos Island.
Help the Green Foxes
We can operate the project without the truck. We are doing it now. Collecting full nets of PET plastic bottles and aluminium cans on foot and using our own cars. However in May the tourist season starts and the number of PET bottles
to be recycled increases ten fold. We urgently need a truck to collect and bring the bottles to the "Fox House" for sorting, crushing and baling before transporting them to the recycling factory on the Greek mainland.
We Love our Island
The Green Fox has limited funds and needs financial help to get a truck back out on the road and start collecting before the waste goes to the landfill site.
Help is needed to help the Green Fox stay Green.
