V Group Director of Circular Economy participates to discussion panel of Olympia Forum IV

The Olympia Forum IV brought together global leaders, policymakers, and experts to engage in a thoughtful discourse on pressing issues surrounding sustainable development and the circular economy. With environmental concerns growing ever more urgent, this forum served as a vital platform for sharing innovative ideas and strategies to promote sustainable practices.

The Circular Economy and whether local governments can become a catalyst for a necessary change of example was the topic discussed in the session involving Mr. Manolis Graffakos, Secretary-General for Waste Management at the Ministry of Environment and Energy, and Mr. Stavros Kontogeorgakis, Director of Circular Economy at V Group. This took place during the second day of Olympia Forum IV, organized by the Economic Forum of Delphi and the newspaper “PATRIS,” held at the premises of the International Olympic Academy in Ancient Olympia.

The discussion commenced with the reasons that make the circular economy necessary in development and emphasized the increase in the Earth’s population, which currently stands at approximately 8 billion people. Therefore, a production model based on today’s data cannot continue. “We are trying to bring back as much as we can into production, and for this to happen, certain stages are necessary.” Mr Graffakos mentioned. There is a plan at the Ministry of Environment for this, and the goal is the transition to an environment where landfilling of waste will be reduced to below 10%, so that by 2030, Greece will have definitively turned the page and adopted a circular economy model.

In addition, Mr. Kontogeorgakis emphasized that the “circular economy should go hand in hand with circular entrepreneurship, but this requires vision, culture, and expertise for the next day. Steps are being taken, we are a bit behind compared to other European countries, but we are collaborating with other companies and countries, and we too can demonstrate many things abroad,” he added.

Finally, he mentioned that “the sooner the issue of the circular economy is integrated into businesses, the sooner it will yield results.”