Greece unfreezes €39.42 million waste recovery and recycling facility tenders in South Aegean

This opportunity page is a news article from tovima.com (14 October 2026), not a tender notice. It reports that Greece is preparing waste management investments approaching EUR 2 billion. Manolis Grafakos, secretary-general for Waste Management Coordination at the Ministry of Environment and Energy, outlined the plans at the 9th Conference of the Hellenic Solid Waste Management Association. No tender documents, lots, selection criteria, award criteria, submission portal or deadlines are published, so no bidder requirements can be stated yet.

The announced pipeline has several parts: Attica: two public-private partnership (PPP) tenders for waste treatment facilities at Fyli and Schisto, with a combined initial budget of about EUR 762 million excluding VAT. Fyli is allocated EUR 461.2 million, with the remainder for Schisto. Developments are expected in November. At Fyli, the existing Mechanical Recycling and Composting Plant would be converted into a Recovery and Recycling Facility, originally designed for 450,000 t/year. At Schisto, the frozen tender would be redesigned as a Recovery and Recycling Facility, originally planned for 250,000 t/year. Capacities may be revised. If contracts are signed in 2027, operation could begin in late 2029 or early 2030. Santorini: a waste treatment facility worth EUR 39.42 million excluding VAT. It is in the second stage of a PPP tender, a competitive dialogue with four candidates, and land expropriation has been accelerated. Ikaria: land expropriation has been approved for a new waste treatment facility. North Aegean: a decision on infrastructure in Samos and Lesbos is expected in October. South Aegean: the plan for Syros, Paros and Mykonos is expected to be extended to Naxos. An earlier Naxos tender worth EUR 15.94 million stalled over legal disputes. In January 2026 the South Aegean regional government launched a unified project with an indicative budget of EUR 194.92 million. It covers Recovery and Recycling Facilities on Mykonos (23,000 t/year), Paros (15,000 t/year) and Syros (17,000 t/year) and a transfer station on Tinos.

Another component is a network of six waste-to-energy plants. It would handle about 1.18 million t/year of RDF/SRF feedstock, with an estimated investment above EUR 1 billion. The Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment is expected by the end of 2026. After that, the regulatory and financing framework will be set and tenders launched, with sites chosen at tender stage. A deposit return system (DRS Hellas) for plastic bottles and cans is also awaiting approval from the Hellenic Recycling Agency.

Still to come are the individual tender notices and documents from the respective contracting authorities. These will set out requirements, award criteria and deadlines.