Filenews 20 August 2021 - by Angelos Nikolaou
In order to stop the illegal dumping of waste in fields, plots, streams and landfills, the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, proceeds to legislative regulations, so that the significant gaps exploited by deft people, rendering essentially ineffective the implementation of existing legislation, to disappear. The huge problem of the uncontrolled dumping of rubble, endangering the environment and public health, will be addressed by the obligations undertaken from the outset by all the stakeholders and their commitments so that all the quantities estimated to be produced per project will end up only in licensed bodies. Essentially, contractors must provide a prior agreement with a licensed waste management unit that will include all the quantities of waste generated from construction and demolition.
Furthermore, a relevant decree of the Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, which is before the Legal Service for processing, makes the use of GPS mandatory in all vehicles of skip carriers. In this way, the Department of Environment will be able to know whether they are transporting and where waste is being transported to, which will not pass through the management system.
The new legislative framework will also achieve the recycling targets that the Republic of Cyprus has to implement regarding the management of waste from construction and demolition.
In accordance with the Waste Framework Directive (2008/98/EC) and on the transition to a European circular economy with a high level of resource efficiency, Member States are taking the necessary measures to ensure, inter alia, that, by 2020, the preparation for re-use, recycling and recovery of non-hazardous construction and demolition waste is increased by at least 70% in terms of weight. The Republic of Cyprus has harmonized this Directive in national law with the Waste Law and now, according to information provided by the "F", it is expected to be put before the Council of Ministers next Monday for approval of the new draft regulations, based on which an integrated system for the management of Waste from Excavations, Constructions and Demolitions (AEKK) is created, covering at the same time any gaps in the existing legislation.
The gap and ineffective implementation of regulations is only regulated by replacing them with regulations that require less administrative burden (human resources) for their implementation. Through the new plan, the turnover and sustainability of AEKK management facilities and other waste managers will be increased. Specifically, through the new framework, there is provision for recording the obligations of the owners of the projects and the AEKK producers, the upgrading of the role and the obligations of the Individual and Collective Management Systems of AEKK to a significant extent, so that their involvement in the rational management of waste is substantial and decisive, as well as the upgrading of the role of the Supervising Engineers and the Project Designers in the management of the AEKK through the obligations of the owners of the works.
In addition to reducing pollution from uncontrolled discharge of AEKK, the new regulations will bring about significant changes in waste management through the optimization of rational management, the achievement of recycling targets and the promotion of the circular economy.
Waste management measures
The adoption of measures for the management of AEKK, aiming at their reuse and exploitation, is the purpose of the regulations that will be put before the Council of Ministers. The measures are aimed at:
(a) the prevention of waste from construction works, technical infrastructure projects, construction, demolition of buildings, natural and technological disasters, by reducing the total volume of AEKK, and by reducing the harmful effects of such waste on the environment and human health;
(b) The recycling, reuse and recovery of AEKK and the improvement of the environmental performance of all economic actors involved in construction and technical works, especially those directly involved in the management of these materials;
(c) The achievement of quantitative targets for the recycling and other recovery operations of AEKK, within the time limits;
(d) Laying down the essential requirements as to the nature of the reuse of AEKK, including recycling and injection;
(e) The separation of AEKK in their production area, in order to achieve a high level of recycling and recovery of materials;
(f) Taking measures for the cooperation of all public and private economic operators involved, natural and legal persons, who manage CDW under the polluter-pays principle and their participation in the responsibility for achieving the objectives;
(g) The principle of disclosure to users and consumers of the measures taken for the implementation of the provisions of these Regulations, in order to highlight their role as contributing factors to the reuse and recycling of AEKK.
The obligations of project owners and producers
The Regulations apply to the project owner, the AEKK producer and the management bodies, in relation to waste from construction and demolition. The project owner has full responsibility for the management of the produced AEKK and ensures that the designer has assessed and calculated the quantities and types of waste during the design stage of the project, the supervising engineer monitors and ensures the implementation of the AEKK management plan during the project execution stage and informs the project owner in writing. Upon completion of the project, it certifies the proper management of the produced CDW in accordance with the AKK management plan and informs the Collective or Individual Management System of AEKK, according to a form which is determined by notification of the Director of the Department of Environment.
Following the undertaking of the obligation for the management of the CDC, the producer of AEKK is obliged to send a written notification for the commencement of the works at the latest with the date of commencement of the works, to the Collective Management System of AEKK in which it participates or to the Individual Management System of AEKK that maintains and operates and which must register them electronically, by notifying the Director of the Department of Environment, on a form determined by notification of the Director of the Department of Environment. Prior to the commencement of the execution of any project, prepare and submit to the Collective Management System of the AKKK in which it participates or to the Individual Management System of AEKK that maintains and operates, a management plan of AEKK, as defined in a form which is determined by notification of the Director of the Department of Environment, for the correctness of which he is fully responsible.
No more profiteering
Through the new legislation, the phenomena of profiteering that are observed today, i.e. professional skip carriers, will be avoided, while they collect the relevant fees for the processing of materials from citizens, instead of transferring them to licensed units, they eject them in illegal rubbish dumps and outdoor areas.
