Pyrgos considers drastic action to solve trash woes

Local authorities and residents of Pyrgos in the Peloponnese are considering drastic action in a bid to force a solution to the town?s burgeoning trash problem, Kathimerini understands.

If the problem is not solved by the end of the week, schools will close, according to local councilor Takis Antonakopoulos, who has called on the entire local council to resign in protest.

Local pharmacists have reported a rise in cases of gastroenteritis believed to have been caused by the rotten trash.

Regional authorities were poised to sign an order for the trash to be packaged and transferred to the site of a former landfill that was closed down, prompting the current crisis. But after seven months of festering on the streets, the trash ?has rotted and is no longer collectible,? according to Giorgos Giorgopoulos, the vice regional governor of Ilia.