Cyprus is at risk of not meeting either the European Commission’s 2025 municipal waste recycling target of 55% or the union’s circular economy action plan. That is, to halve the amount of municipal waste in the EU that is not recycled by 2030.
This is what Philenews reported on Thursday, adding that – specifically – Cyprus does not seem to have time to implement the separation and separate collection of recyclables from organic waste. As well as the implementation of the Pay As I Spend (POP) system with prepaid bags which is set to be launched next summer.
The alarming news came to the fore during a House Environment Committee debate on Wednesday on the Municipal Waste Management Strategy 2022-2028.
The Republic’s plans include, amongst other, actions aiming to reduce solid municipal waste from the coastal areas of Limassol and Paphos and to implement a sorting system in remote mountainous regions.
As well as the establishment of two re-use centres in the capital of Nicosia and in Limassol and for the creation of up to 50 community composters.
Legislation is now also being drafted for the collection of textile and household hazardous waste for pharmaceutical waste.
In particular, projects in progress include the source separation system (e.g. households, enterprises) and separate collection of recyclable and organic waste. As well as implementation of a PDO system with prepaid bags, with a funded expenditure of €25 million.
For the implementation of this system, a tender evaluation and a feasibility study is being carried out in 20 municipalities and 30 clusters of municipalities by December 31, 2023.
