World Zero Waste Day is celebrated for the first time on 30 March 2023 and is jointly organised by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and UN Human Settlements Programme (UN Habitat) and aims to raise awareness of the importance of zero waste and responsible consumption and production.
On this day we are invited to review our practices to strengthen the circular economy. This means reducing resource use and emissions to the environment at all stages of the product life cycle, as this is a key factor in addressing the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.
Every year 2.24 billion tonnes of municipal solid waste is generated and without action by 2025 this will increase to 3.88 billion tonnes per year. Through policies for better planning, clear economic indicators and rational waste management we can put humanity on the path to health and prosperity.
The Department of Environment, as the competent authority for solid waste management, implements Cypriot legislation, which is fully harmonised with the EU Circular Economy Package Directives, and the European targets of 55% reuse and recycling of municipal waste by 2025, 60% by 2030 and 65% by 2035, and a gradual reduction of landfill to 10% by 2035. At the same time, regulations are in force regulating the application of extended producer responsibility for various waste streams, such as packaging waste, non-packaging paper, electrical and electronic equipment, batteries and accumulators and tyres. To further strengthen this framework, regulations were also adopted in 2023 for pharmaceutical waste of domestic origin. Also in 2022, the Directive on the reduction of single-use plastics was transposed into national law through the amendment of the Waste Law, while in 2023 the ban on the disposal of the thin plastic carrier bag at points of sale came into force.
An important step in waste management was the adoption, in July 2022, of the Municipal Waste Management Regulations by local government authorities, which provide for the mandatory implementation of source separation and separate collection systems for municipal waste and pay-as-you-throw systems by 30 June 2024.
The above legislation, the Municipal Waste Management Plan 2022-2028 and the National Waste Generation Prevention Programme 2022-2028 are implemented through circular economy projects from European funds, with an estimated budget of €82 million until 2029. In particular, the projects will be co-financed by the LIFE Programme, the Recovery and Resilience Fund, the Structural Funds and the EEA/Norway Mechanism. The LIFE IP CYzero WASTE project, with a budget of around €15 million, is the umbrella project for these projects aiming at source separation and separate collection of municipal solid waste, preventing its disposal in landfills. The five waste streams managed by the above projects are reuse and recycling waste, as well as organic, household hazardous and marine waste.
They include co-funded projects such as establishment of a Waste Management Coordinating Body, two reuse and repair centres, 50 community and 16,000 household composters for organic waste, 50 green kiosks for recyclable waste, implementation of the Pay As You Throw (POP) system, equipment in hotels and related municipal solid waste sites in the Limassol and Paphos districts, source separation for organic waste in mountainous Cyprus, mobile units for hazardous waste and an integrated waste project monitoring system.
In Cyprus we have decided to turn the page and very soon we will be on the road to the implementation and realisation of the circular economy, in cooperation with the Local Authorities, within the framework of the European acquis.
(BG/EXP)
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