(ATHENS) - Time is running out for Greece to close hundreds of illegal landfills as ordered by the European Court of Justice, the EU environment commissioner said in an interview published Saturday.

"The deadline for shutting down illegal landfills by the end of 2008 that was imposed by the European Court of Justice is fast approaching," Stavros Dimas told Greek daily Eleftherotypia in an interview.

A decade ago, Greece was forced to pay 5.4 million euros (8.6 million dollars) in fines before shutting down the major landfill of Kouroupitos on the island of Crete but Dimas warned Saturday that future fines would be steeper.

"The ECJ now imposes hefty fines that would make the Kouroupitos case a painless memory by comparison," said Dimas, who is Greek.

Waste disposal is a major environmental concern in Greece, where authorities routinely fail to enforce legislation and are slow to take action against polluters.

In October, cleanup crews were sent to Asopos River north of Athens after media reported that dangerous chemicals were being dumped by industrial plants, but residents had complained about their drinking water for years.

Inspectors were also sent last year to Lake Koroneia in northern Greece where scores of wild birds were found dead from suspected bacteria poisoning. Scientists said factories in the region had been dumping untreated waste into the lake's tributary streams for years.

In Athens, authorities have warned that more landfills are urgently needed to handle a burgeoning garbage problem that has stretched the capital's sole available facility to breaking point.

The environment ministry has approved three new landfills in the broader Athens region, but the residents of two of the selected areas -- Grammatiko and Keratea in rural east Attica -- strongly oppose the move.

And the garbage mounds will continue to grow as only around 20 percent of waste generated in the country is recycled.

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