Tilos, a small Greek island, used to bury its rubbish on a hillside. The landfill kept growing. Wind scattered plastic across the beaches below.
It's a familiar problem for small islands. Residents and tourists produce waste, but shipping it elsewhere for recycling rarely makes economic sense. So most islands sacrifice a patch of scarce land and bury the problem. Out of sight, out of mind.
A few years ago, Tilos tried something different. Working with Greek circular economy company Polygreen and backed by the Region of South Aegean, the island removed its street bins entirely and replaced them with door-to-door collection. Every household and business received separate bags for recyclables and organic waste, each tagged with a QR code.
As a result, Tilos is now the world's first island to hold the Zero Waste Cities Certification, with a recycling and composting rate of close to 90% - well above both the Greek national figure and the EU average.
How it works
