Limassol, a laggard in recycling, is launching a new campaign to encourage residents to separate and recycle their household waste.
Mayor Nicos Nicolaides told a press conference on Tuesday that in cooperation with recyclers Green Dot Cyprus, they will be sending envelopes with information material and two recycling bags – one each for PMD and paper – to 50,000 Limassol households as part of the campaign ‘We recycle for a clean Limassol.’
The EU’s target is for 70 per cent of household waste to be recycled by 2030 – from the current EU average of 45 per cent. Limassol faces a particularly steep learning drive, with recycling only at 10 per cent.
“The average Limassolian produces 600 kilos of rubbish a year, of which they recycle only 10 per cent, while the percentage of composting it even lower,” he said.
“We have a very long way to cover if we are to continue to say that we are European citizens,” he said.
Limassol Municipality has made the 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) a strategic objective which can only be achieved with separation of waste at source, separate collection of different types of waste and composting.
The district is currently home to four green points and a model recycling unit while over 2023, there are plans to install 120 underground dustbins and a compression and collection system for waste on the coastal front and the town centre, he said.
Green Dot board president Vasilis Petrides said the company needed the support of municipal authorities and residents themselves. Only one other EU country has door to door collection of PMD and paper and despite the high cost, the model is considered a successful one, he said.
Petrides also called for incentives such as the ‘pay as you throw’ programme that Limassol municipality is expected to implement in 2023. Implementation of the programme in Aglandjia municipality has led to the doubling of recyclable material.
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