Filenews 10 December 2020
The extension of separate collection at source of recyclable and organic waste, in conjunction with the implementation of "Pay As I Throw" systems in all Municipalities and Communities of free Cyprus, is one of the most important goals set by the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment for 2021, said The Minister responsible Costas Kadis.
In a greeting to the Press Conference on the presentation of the holistic waste management system "Separate and Earn", which was piloted by the Municipality of Aglantzia last period, and will begin to be implemented throughout the territory of the Municipality, with the start of the new year, Mr. Kadis said that such initiatives are strongly supported by his Ministry, since they contribute greatly to the implementation of the objectives set in the framework of our new Strategy for Waste Management.
He said that the Bill regulating the universal implementation of the policy extending the separate collection at source of recyclable and organic waste, in conjunction with the implementation of "Pay As Much As I Throw" systems to all Municipalities and Communities of free Cyprus, is already before the House of Representatives.
In addition, he noted, with the contribution of the Association of Municipalities and the Union of Communities, we have completed the draft Regulations for the management of municipal waste by local authorities. "The Regulations define the obligations of local authorities and strengthen their role and responsibilities for the development of local action plans to prevent the creation and management of municipal waste, the establishment of sorting and separate collection systems and the implementation of a "Pay As Much As I Throw" System," he added.
Local Government Authorities, he said, are our key partners in our great effort to manage municipal waste.
He said that the Ministry and the Government in general will support in every way the Local Government Authorities, which are the main actors implementing integrated waste management, in order to follow and implement in practice the separate sorting at source and the principles of waste reduction, reuse and recycling.
"In order to provide technological support to local authorities for the implementation of such programmes, the Ministry, through the Environment Department, has secured funding of EUR 20 million from the Cohesion Fund of the European Union. The Department of the Environment has already completed at this stage the consultation with stakeholders on the characteristics of the relevant Local Authority Support Programme, which is expected to contribute to reducing waste, managing it more efficiently and reducing greenhouse gas emissions," he added.
It recalled that in cooperation with the Local Authorities, programmes are already being implemented to reduce municipal solid waste from beach hotel units and related mass-produced waste sites in the provinces of Larnaca, Famagusta, Limassol and Paphos, with the aim of diverting the quantities produced by the major producers.
Mr. Kadis noted that for Cyprus, the rational management of municipal waste is one of the biggest environmental challenges, requiring cuts, both at the level of government policy and at the level of local government.
"This is a very important programme, based mainly on changing the culture and the way we manage waste. Difficulties and challenges exist. But with close cooperation and continuous effort, we will succeed. We are entering a new era for our Cyprus, where every citizen is invited to participate actively in this effort. As a Ministry, we will support in every possible way all initiatives and actions that will contribute to the implementation of our policies for environmental protection and sustainable development," he added.
The Municipality of Aglantzia
In a statement, the Municipality of Aglantzia says that based on the design, the waste is approached as seven different streams that have a separate collection and result in different forms of management.
They include the three recycling streams already collected by the Municipality in cooperation with Green Dot (PMD, paper and glass), the prunings either collected by the Municipality with a prepaid paper bag, or composted at home level by providing the Municipality with a free household composter, the bulky ones that end up in the Green Spots and the residual waste (that does not go to the other streams) that will now be collected only with the use of the prepaid purple bag available to the Municipality.
Part of the new design that aims to incentivization to the public for the proper management of its waste, it is noted, is the complete redesign of the taxation of the dogs of the Municipality and the implementation of a much fairer system where everyone will pay only for what he throws away.
The implementation of pay as much as I throw (PDO) with the prepaid bag, it is said, ensures that households that properly manage their waste (recycle, compost) their waste will have significantly lower tax costs than those who do not.
The Municipality has the prepaid purple bag in three sizes (56 liters, 35 liters and 10 liters) in order to give different solutions for the different needs of its citizens.
The bags are available from the Municipality, from 23 other outlets throughout the Municipality (supermarkets, kiosks, bakeries, fruit shops) and with order and free delivery from Foody. The bags are sold at 2 euros of 56 liters, 1.5 euros of 35 liters and 40 cents of 10 liters and include in this price and the taxation of dogs. From 1/1/2021, households in Aglantzia will not pay any more tax on dogs.
** The news is part of the Rethink Reduce-Reuse-Recycle project, funded by the EU LIFE+ programme (Project Code: LIFE13 INF/CY/000910). Contractor: RIK. Partners: GreenDot Cyprus, Department of Environment of the Ministry of Agriculture Natural Resources and Environment, Pedagogical Institute, CYPE and Fost Plus Belgium.**
Source: KYPE
