Citizens are dumping everything from refrigerators and beds to tyres and sofas wherever they can.
The choice of disposal sites is in areas where there is no visual contact with roads or residential areas from where those carrying the waste materials could be detected.
Such a site has been created in an area adjacent to works being carried out as part of the construction of the Nicosia Ring Road.
It should be noted that before the start of the Ring Road works in this particular area, various useless items were indeed being dumped, but because the dirt road (alongside which the dumping was taking place) was uphill and did not provide cover for those wishing to discard waste, only a few meters on either side of the road were affected, which was used by a relatively small number of vehicles.
However, after the commencement of the works, this road closed, and a detour with turns was created, providing cover for vehicles heading there for waste disposal. The discarded items are left at a distance of 200-300 meters along the road, and according to the image we observed, their volume will increase over time.
If access to this road were cut off, vehicles transporting waste would not be able to dump it there. However, the road is used daily by the contractor’s vehicles, making it practically difficult to install barriers or a guard to prevent access by vehicles unrelated to the ongoing works.
So what does one find in such an impromptu dump? A refrigerator shell from which the metal has been removed, obviously for recycling, 5-6 sofas, wooden pallets, buckets, plastics of all kinds and types (from car bumpers to other vehicle parts), and cardboard boxes.
Also, large rubbish bags of unknown content, sports shoes, footballs, travel suitcases, plastic containers, water hoses, mattresses, sponges from furniture, furniture, painted plastics, pieces of wood, plastic bottles, squeegees, old plastic water containers, plastic boxes, old car cushions, an old toilet, pots, and even an old plastic water reservoir. And of course, plastic chairs and wooden tables.
If there were a place where citizens could dispose of any useless material, even for a fee, the phenomenon might not be eradicated, but it would obviously be restricted.
