The Republic of Cyprus is expected to apply “Pay as you Throw” program island-wide within the next year, as the Government announced on Wednesday. The program already implemented in the Aglantzia municipality provides for the disposal of garbage only in prepaid bags and the abolition, at the same time, of municipal garbage collection fees.
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades announced the intention of the Government to put in effect immediately throughout Cyprus, a program for the separate collection at the source of recyclable and organic waste. As he said within April there will be an announcement for the declaration of interest from local authorities, in order to join the program and to obtain the required funding.
A decisive factor for the success of this project, he noted, is the implementation of the program “Pay as you Throw” which concerns a fair system, based on the principle the ” polluter pays”. In particular, he added, every citizen will pay only for what he discards and not for what he reuses or recycles.
The President also said that 25 million euros of funding have been secured from the Cohesion Fund of the European Union, to support local authorities in their effort to effectively implement this new policy. He also assured that the Government will provide additional funds to local authorities if necessary.
He urged local authorities and people to join this effort, “to embrace it warmly in order to achieve what the planet needs from each country and from each one of us individually”.
Presenting the waste management strategy of the Government, the Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment Costas Kadis, noted that the goal is a shift from the linear development model, in which products are produced, consumed and discarded to a cyclical growth model aiming at preserving the value of products and raw material, based on processes such as reuse, repair and recycling.
“We are determined to change course, adopting more sustainable, more rational, greener policies, making full use of the natural resources at our disposal, respecting the environment and improving the quality of life of citizens,” he said.
He noted that there are significant challenges ahead of Cyprus since in 2019, the percentage of preparation for reuse and recycling of municipal waste was 15%, while the amount of municipal waste that ended up in landfills was particularly high.
He explained that the goal was for Cyprus to reach 55% of municipal waste recycling in 2025, 60% in 2030 and 65% in 2035.
In this direction, he said that a new framework for waste management is being formed in Cyprus, which fully adopts the principles of the circular economy. This framework, as he said, will substantially improve waste management while he expressed the certainty that in the coming days there will be very significant changes.
According to Kadis, currently, a total of five bills are in the final stage of discussion in the Parliament, which fully harmonise the Cypriot legislation with the European directives on circular economy. These harmonising laws, he said, are framed by a series of changes in the institutional framework through national regulatory measures.
The Minister said that he expected that the legislation for mandatory implementation of the program “Pay as you throw” will be approved by Parliament before its closure at the end of April, however the relevant regulations are expected to be approved by the new Parliament. He expressed the hope that there will be an island-wide implementation of the program within the next year.