Filenews 29 March 2021
A promising trend was recorded amid a pandemic: plastic was reduced by 10% in the waste of two communities in Paphos province! The conclusion is derived from the analysis of 50 buckets, which were placed as part of the Action On- the- go Recycling of the Zero Waste Beach project implemented by the Centre for AKTI Studies and Research in collaboration withCoca-Cola HBC Cyprus with the support of The Coca- Cola Foundation, and collected a total of 21 tons of garbage.
The COVID-19 pandemic has also been described as the 'plastic pandemic', as the use of disposable plastics has skyrocketed due to the need to cover health precautions. Masks, gloves, and packaging became part of our daily lives. Despite the worrying global trend, it seems that citizens are beginning to realise the scale of the disaster and the need to change habits.
In August 2019, 50 specially designed PMD recycling bins (plastic – metal- tetrapak) were installed over a length of 5 km. coastal sidewalks, in the Municipality of Geroskipou and in the Community of Kissonerga in Paphos. These bins and the scientific monitoring of the content collected in them constitute the action In 2020 with the pandemic the bins collected 21 tons of garbage!
The two local authorities cooperated enthusiastically in undertaking the collection of garbage and supporting the scientific staff of AKTI in the work of systematic characterization of garbage, separation in sources, weighing.
Monitoring of garbage collected in On-the-go recycling bins before and during the pandemic and comparative analysis of data gives particularly interesting data Weighing and counting/analysis in garbage sources was done every time local authorities emptied the bins, i.e. two or three times a week, depending on the period.
Comparative results for the period October-December 2019 (before the pandemic) and October-December 2020 (during the pandemic, in lockdown conditions in Paphos), record a significant differentiation of garbage flows between the two periods with a significant reduction in the plastic current by 14% and an increase in the current of metal/aluminium and TetraPak by 10%.
Comparative results for the period January -February 2019 (before the pandemic) and 2020 (during the pandemic, in lockdown conditions in Paphos), record a significant increase in the quantities of garbage in the bins by 57%, with a 10% reduction in the plastic current and a 20% reduction in the currents of metal/aluminum and TetraPak. Note the significant increase of the category "other" (non-PMD garbage) by 55%: many peels of fruit and food residues in recycling bins as well as paper coffee cups.
The fact of the significant reduction in plastic is probably due to the fact that the European Directive on the reduction of disposable plastics has been adopted and is expected to enter into force in Cyprus in July 2021. So many businesses offering coffee or drinks replaced plastic cups with paper. The increase in non-PMDs is due to the paper cups of take-away drinks that replaced plastics, but mainly to the lack of information or interest by Cypriots in recycling.
The chair of the board of directors of AKTI, Dr. Xenia I. Loizidou, said that garbage "speaks" about the pandemic and it seems that infrastructures designed in terms of sustainable operation, such as the on-the-go Recycling action bins, with synergies such as those of AKTI, Coca-Cola HBC and the two Local Authorities, operate even in extreme conditions such as pandemic. "With everything closed, our 50 bins "collected" 21 tons of garbage, of which 15 tons were recyclable materials, which would otherwise go to mixed garbage or be disposed of in the environment to reach the sea."
Dr Loizidou added that systematic data monitoring provides valuable evidence to assess existing policies and infrastructures and to properly plan targeted future strategies and actions. "So we see that the Cypriots have suffered but let us measure the positive that we learned to walk and exercise more. What we still haven't learned is to recycle. On our bins there were large markings explaining what should be thrown into them. Next to them were the conventional bins for mixed garbage. And yet our buckets in the pandemic were filled with food and fruit residues, much more than tourists before the pandemic! It seems that tourists are better informed about how they recycle their rubbish and/or probably care more."
