In early 2010 the parties involved in conducting the Greek campaign, TUC and NAGREF, gathered together and developed a plan regarding the specific actions and targets for the awareness raising campaign in Greece. The initial planning targeted the organization of meetings with the stakeholders in olive productive areas in Greece and also the organization of informative meetings, workshops, with the participation of olive mill owners. Potential obstacles that could delay the initial timeline of the campaign were also discussed. It was decided to schedule the 6 workshops in the olive production areas of Greece (Crete, Peloponnese, Central Greece, Lesvos Island and Northern Greece) and in particular, three workshops were planned before the begging of the harvesting period and the three after the end of it. When the Greek partners received the technical sheets of the suggested technologies started the translation and editing in the Greek language. The target was to present to olive mill owners the benefits of the available eco-friendly technologies, to demonstrate the environmental damages caused by incorrect olive mill waste management and also to present the environmental benefits that would emerged from the operation of the suggested eco-friendly technologies. 500 complete packaged brochures were printed and 500 DVDs were recorded in order to promote the campaign and the benefits to the environment.

During the organised workshops it was arranged to organise meetings with the local stakeholders that are involved in waste management in order to demonstrate the targets of the Oleico+ programme and if it was possible to collaborate for the planning a different, more eco-friendly approach regarding the OMW. Due to various delays, the initial planning to schedule 3 workshops by the end of 2010 and another 3 in the begging of 2011 was changed. Two workshops took place in October 2010, in Chania-Crete and in Kalamata-Peloponnese and four in March-April 2011, namely, Chalikidi-Northern Greece, Lamia-Central Greece, Mytiline-Lesvos Island and Iraklio-Crete. Olive mill owners were invited to attend the workshops and understand the negative environmental impact of the present situation. During the workshops, questionnaires were administered to the olive mill owners’ in order to verify their actual interest on using new eco-friendly technologies. However the critical situation of the Greek economy, the low price of olive oil and the general economic recession in Greece, made the efforts for an environmental switch, with the use of the suggested eco-friendly technologies, very difficult to materialize. Nonetheless, the information provided raised awareness significantly and when the Greek economy turns around, it is expected that several olive mill owners will invest in new eco-friendly technologies. Finally, in light of the new legislation on environmental quality standards and water reuse, the Greek team prepared an interpretation bulletin to help the Regions who are in charge of operating permits, to have the suitable guidelines and suggest implementable and realistic solutions.