The Society for the Protection of Prespa (SPP) is implementing the project “Prespa’s Green and Blue LifeLines” which aims at cleaning and monitoring the condition of rivers and streams in Prespa National Park. The programme is supported by the Donors’ Initiative for Mediterranean Freshwater Ecosystems (DIMFE) and Prespa Ohrid Nature Trust (PONT).
The project includes, among other things, cleaning of streams and rivers with the participation of volunteers. For the second time, the SPP collaborated with the Cleaningans (cleaning group of volunteers) from Thessaloniki.
The invitation this time was for the cleaning of Ag. Germanos-Laimos river in the area next to the bean fields, where there is a greater concentration of plastics, either because they are blocked there on their journey from higher points or because of the dumping of plastic agrochemical containers.
The rendez-vous was at the square of Laimos village and after handing out T-shirts and work gloves, the volunteers were transported to the river, where the clean-up action started by covering the area between the Irish crossings. Wearing galoshes and with special tweezers on hand, the volunteers even operated inside the water, collecting litter that had been left there for years.
Volunteers from Thessaloniki, representatives of local institutions, community representatives and local residents joined forces and collected over 600 kilos of waste. Hundreds of empty agrochemical packaging, household waste and plastics littered the riverbed and the riverbank.
Dozens of bags full of garbage were collected in a safe place from where they were picked up by the Municipality of Prespa for further processing according to their type of material. The action was followed by a guided tour of the volunteers to the Krina hill, the islet of Agios Achilleios and the village of Psarades and the meeting ended with a meal as a big “thank you” to those who participated.
