- Athanasios K. Laskaridis Foundation, Lidl Greece, and Plastic Free Greece team up for the event.
- Actions will run from June 6 to 9, 2025, covering both coastal and underwater cleanup.
- A public meeting is scheduled for Friday, June 6, 2025, at DAPPOS Indoor Gym.
- Cleanups target Monolithos Beach, Vlychada Marina, and Baxedes areas.
- Tourists, locals, and volunteers are all welcome to get involved.
Santorini might be known for sunsets, but this June, it’s also where flip-flops meet trash bags. The Athanasios K. Laskaridis Charitable Foundation has shifted its focus from distributing reusable water bottles and staging photo ops to getting wet and combating marine litter. Alongside Lidl Greece and the ever-optimistic cheerleaders from “Plastic Free Greece,” they’re rolling up their sleeves to scoop up plastic from both beaches and the seafloor.
Santorini plays host to this gritty operation between June 6 and 9, 2025. Volunteers, professionals, and every curious local are invited to congregate for a round of necessary cleaning. If the wide-eyed faces of Lidl’s mascot don’t lure you in, maybe the stats and stories from past cleanups at the Friday briefing will. Spoiler: there will be data, coffee, and probably sand in inconvenient places.
Beach and Underwater Cleanup Schedule
- Friday, June 6, 2025
- 13:00-14:00: Ignore your jetlag and shuffle into DAPPOS Indoor Gym for a pre-clean info swap.
- 17:30-19:00: Forget sunbathing; join the coastal cleanup at Monolithos Beach.
- Saturday, June 7, 2025
- 09:30-12:00: Stand in awe as divers wrestle with candy wrappers and rogue flip-flops during the big underwater cleanup at Vlychada Marina.
- 17:30-19:00: Pretend trash it’s a treasure hunt at Baxedes Beach. The winner gets bragging rights.
- Sunday, June 8, 2025
- 09:30-12:00: More underwater cleanup action, this time at the pint-sized Baxedes Port.
Why Santorini Needed a Trash Intervention
With visitors outnumbering stray umbrellas, Santorini’s beaches and sea floor end up as catch-alls for forgotten coffee cups and abandoned pool noodles. The Foundation, Lidl Greece, and their allies march in each year, determined to outdo the number of bottles and wrappers left behind. Locals, tourists, and confused bystanders all team up to toss garbage and maybe, just maybe, inspire others to do more than take selfies.
The effort asks everyone to trade the selfie stick for a trash picker—at least for a few hours. Santorini’s underwater cleanup isn’t a vacation trend, but it’s bound to be unforgettable. Next time you swim here, that slimy thing brushing your toe might be a harmless bit of seaweed—thanks to these unsung heroes.
