The brown bin in Greece: from pilots to full roll-out
Greece now has bins and collection trucks for bio-waste, but not yet the plants to make use of it. Of the 28 planned Bio-waste Treatment Plants (MEBA), only 3 were operating at the end of 2025, according to the European Court of Auditors. A collection chain without treatment does not close the loop.
The first steps (2011–2020)
Source separation of bio-waste started in Greece with small pilots, usually under EU programmes:
| Period | Programme | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| 2011–2014 | Athens Bio Waste (Municipalities of Athens, Kifisia) | Pilot source separation and high-quality compost at the EDSNA mechanical-biological treatment plant |
| 2016– | Municipality of Vrilissia | Collection from homes, street markets and shops. Reached 5% of the municipality’s municipal waste |
| 2016–2020 | Waste4Think, Municipality of Chalandri | Source separation and drying into a “forbi” product, with bin identification |
| 2018– | Municipality of Vari-Voula-Vouliagmeni | Brown bin for households, hotels and food service |
| 2020 | DIADYMA (Kozani, Voio) | First source separation of bio-waste outside Attica |
The pilots showed that citizens take part when there is a steady collection frequency, clean bins and good information. But they also showed the limit: without a nearby treatment plant, transport costs and uncertainty about the outlet hold back scaling up.
Scaling up in Attica (2020–2022)
EDSNA, the Attica waste authority, took the biggest step, with central procurement of equipment for all municipalities in Attica. By December 2022 it had distributed 33,755 brown bins out of the 48,372 planned. It had also distributed 144 of 200 dedicated collection trucks, to 58 municipalities.
The result was around 50,000 tonnes of bio-waste diverted from landfill in the nine months from January to September 2022, a 35% increase on 2019. But those 50,000 tonnes amounted to just 3.5% of municipal waste, against a potential of more than 35%. The equipment was there; participation remained low.
The real obstacle: treatment
- Treatment plants: of the 28 planned, 3 are operating (European Court of Auditors, Dec. 2025).
- Delays: waste projects are delayed by around three years on average.
- Funding: 71% of 2021–2027 cohesion funding for waste goes to solutions low in the waste hierarchy, against 21% for prevention and recycling.
- Size of the stream: the energy and waste regulator RAAEY estimates that around 2.3 million tonnes of bio-waste were produced in 2025, about 40% of municipal waste (Powergame, Jun. 2025).
Where the system is heading
In February 2025 RAAEY put ten proposals on waste management out for consultation. They show the direction, but are not yet law:
- mandatory source separation by 2027, covering 60% of the population
- at least 30 new sorting, bio-waste and recovery plants by 2027
- smart bins with artificial intelligence and a national digital platform for performance by municipality
- “Pay as you throw” in all municipalities
What we learned: five lessons for a municipality getting started
- Start with the large producers. Hotels, restaurants and street markets provide large, clean quantities from few collection points.
- Secure the destination first. Your own or a contracted composting or anaerobic digestion plant; otherwise the brown bin loses its credibility.
- Door-to-door where possible. Collection from shared bins brings more contamination. Milan, with 1.4 million inhabitants and over 80% living in apartment blocks, collects around 105 kg of food waste per inhabitant per year this way.
- Measure from day one. Weighing on the truck and RFID bin identification provide the data that will be needed for the targets and for “pay as you throw”.
- Continuous communication, not a one-off. A study in a Portuguese municipality of 28,000 inhabitants showed that above 40% participation the cost per tonne does not increase and can even fall.
Starting or scaling up the brown bin?
GREENWISE works with municipalities and waste management bodies on the brown-bin roadmap, from mapping producers to permitting the treatment plant.
See also: Bio-waste guide for municipalities · For Public Bodies
ARTICLE SERIES
Smart bio-waste collection
- 1. What applies in 2026 in the EU and Greece
- 2. The brown bin in Greece (you are reading this)
- 3. Anatomy of a smart system
- 4. NB-IoT, LTE-M or LoRaWAN?
- 5. Routing and artificial intelligence
- 6. “Pay as you throw”
- 7. Solutions at source
Sources
- Rentzou P., Master’s thesis, Hellenic Open University, 2021 (ch. 3.3, 3.4, 11)
- Powergame, Attica: 35% increase in bio-waste (20/12/2022)
- Powergame, European Court of Auditors report (14/12/2025)
- Powergame, Waste management at the start of a major shift (24/6/2025)
- Powergame, RAAEY: Ten measures (27/2/2025)
The series is based on P. Rentzou’s master’s thesis “Separate collection of bio-waste: innovations and IoT collection systems” (Hellenic Open University, 2021), updated with 2026 data. This article is for information only; for current obligations, refer to the legislation in force.
