The bill concerning the management of waste from Construction and Demolition was submitted to the House Environment Committee on Wednesday.
Specifically, under the microscope of the Environment Committee members was the issue of temporary disposal sites for debris coming out of a construction, as well as the transfer of debris from a construction.
In a statement after the meeting, the Chairman of the Environment Committee, Charalambos Theopeptou, said that "it seems that many changes need to be made to the regulation, which the Government has submitted for discussion in Parliament", noting that the members of the Committee have agreed with the Environment Department to work on what was submitted to the Committee today and to make recommendations in order to start the article-by-article discussion on the regulation.
According to Mr. Theopeptou "the cost of depositing and transferring debris is not prohibitive", to add however that "usually skips are left outside the construction sites during the night, resulting in residents depositing mixed materials there".
"The charge," he said, "for mixed materials and unidentified skips, is huge at the waste management units, compared to unidentified materials."
He also said that a request has been made that materials from various skips be taken to a specific site, where they are deposited in a larger truck and from there they leave for the units, which are often a long distance from the construction sites.
He also added that "the excavation professionals just want a place to deposit the soil, where it can then be sold or otherwise utilized."
DISY MP, Prodromos Alabritis, welcomed the tabling of the bill and regulations by the Environment Department, which he said they believe is moving in the right direction to protect the environment and increase recycling.
Alabritis said that "the aim is to crack down on illegalities to stop the unacceptable and illegal dumping of bazaars in streams, rivers and the countryside in general."
"Strict controls are needed by inspectors and the relevant departments of the state," he added.
He went on to say that "the purpose of these regulations is to improve the legislative framework for the management of construction and demolition waste through prevention, reduction and proper management," to note that "the aim is to achieve the European recycling targets which is at 70% of waste."
AKEL MP, Nikos Ketteros, said for his part that many reservations were expressed by those affected, to add that the government must provide incentives to promote the circular economy by reducing the cost of recyclable materials.
As Nikos Ketteros said "unfortunately with these regulations, as they have been tabled, the cost of recyclable materials is increasing", to add that "they think that this will reduce the dumping of rubble, but instead with these policies Cyprus will continue to fill up with illegal rubbish dumps".
"The government must understand that it is necessary to have a unified strategy for waste management without contradictions," he concluded.
Source: CNA
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