Cyprus to regulate waste management by end of 2016

Cyprus needs to improve its waste management regulations in order to fulfill EU standards. Plans for improving local regulations are underway and should be adopted by the end of the year. In an interview with Cyprus News Agency (CAN) earlier this month, Cyprus Environmental Commissioner Ioanna Panagiotou said that Cyprus lacks an integrated strategy for sorting at source as well as the proper infrastructure.

EU standards say that the waste must be recycled, but Cyprus is still battling with its householders waste and plastic bags usage. Statistic shows that the country’s domestic waste amounts to  40% of all the waste produced in the country. Data also show that currently in Cyprus households and businesses recycle plastic, metal and tetrapak packages, paper and glass. The recycle of batteries and electronic and electric devices is also quite popular in Cyprus.

However, a lot still needs to be done regarding the recycle of domestic waste. The bill that will regulate the management of waste has been prepared by the Department of the Environment of the Agriculture Ministry. However, Cypriot government is yet to adopt it and submit it to the Parliament. The document is expected to be tabled by the end of the year.

“If there were a policy and people knew what to do with their household waste, then they would recycle it at source and generate energy instead of being collected and transferred to landfills where it is buried,” Panagiotou  told CNA. She also said that some municipalities have launched projects for the recycle of organic waste mainly from hotel units through EU co-financed programmes, however a comprehensive policy must be applied for the whole of island of Cyprus.