Pafos Live 6 May 2023
The Board of Directors of the Pafos landfill is making a statement on the occasion of what was said at a meeting of the Environment Committee of the Parliament, which notes that the Landfill was designed and constructed in 2005 by the Ministry of Interior, which managed the Unit until 2010 when it ceded the management of the site to the Council for the Exploitation of the Household Waste Disposal or Recovery Sites of the Pafos District.
As the Pafos landfill explains, all solid waste is buried in the cells, including organic waste, since in the Pafos District there is no licensed facility that can manage them, nor is it feasible at the moment, without the infrastructure to be separated either in homes or elsewhere.
The leachate emanating from the cells is collected in tanks under the cells and transported by tubes to the Biological Unit within the fenced area of the landfill and is processed.
A public road passes through the Unit and many times residents have to cross through the Unit in order to go to their property. This is relatively dangerous for both those passing through the Unit and those working on site.
Reading the relevant correspondence for the years 2005 to 2007, the intention of the Ministry of Interior, it is added, was the construction of a public road that will pass outside the Unit, a project that was not implemented at their own risk.
The landfill also notes that "due to the well-known scandals that followed, most of the correspondence concerning this project has been lost, not by chance".
It also calls on the state to assume its responsibilities and build the road outside the boundaries of the Unit.
The Pafos District Council, in an effort to ensure smooth and/or safe access to the site, rents a member of the Council for the purpose of general security of the site around the clock and is within the framework, it added.
Biogas is discharged through special tubes through cells that have carbon at the top. No biogas flaring was installed by the manufacturer since it was not considered necessary because the biogas produced was not in such quantities that would make the combustion torch necessary.
In addition, it is mentioned that the Council measures biogas releases into the atmosphere through a special partner from biogas collection wells and notes the results in the annual Report it delivers to the Ministry of Agriculture.
Also, in an area that has been properly configured for several years, the Council receives pruning from the local authorities of Pafos for their convenience. Despite assurances from the Board of Directors of the Organization that the Water Development Department would purchase and supply a large capacity shredder for the needs of the District, this has not been done for six years.
In particular, the landfill adds, with today's data and recent correspondence it appears that hopefully the shredder will be in the possession of the Council within about twelve months.
In light of the above data, the Council decided to allocate funds to start cutting the prunings produced. It is thought that the landfill will stop receiving pruning, which is not its obligation, but this will have incalculable damage because many municipalities and communities will reject pruning in streams.
In about mid-2017, the Board of Directors of the Organization discovered that the Landfill Site located in the Marathounta area, a government project that began its operation in 2005 under the supervision of the Ministry of Interior and the Pafos District Administration, did not have the necessary Town Planning Approval.
The Council took all appropriate actions and in cooperation with the state services, so that in October 2022 the planning approval will be issued. The non-existence of the permit or its non-detection in the opinion of the Organization is linked to the relevant scandals of the landfill, the announcement concludes.
