A protest by skip loader owners was held in Nicosia on Monday, with 57 vehicles moving along a route from the agriculture ministry to the presidential palace and then to the environment department.

Skip loaders’ association chairman Panicos Drousiotis said the purpose of the protest was to demand that the profession be legally protected, and said that in the current circumstances, “anyone can go and get a permit and collect anything”.

He added that a letter had been delivered to the presidential palace, and that skip loaders would also visit the environment department and have a meeting with its director Theodoulos Mesimeris.

He also said people had gathered to protest a planned closure of a waste management facility which deals with construction waste.

“They cannot close a unit immediately, within a month. That would create a problem. It would lead to a monopoly, and a monopoly would mean people would pay dearly for it,” he said, later adding that it will cause prices for waste management to be “two or three times higher”.

On this matter, he pointed out that there is now only one unit of its kind in the Nicosia district, two in the Limassol district, and one in the Paphos district.

“Unfortunately, we have big problems with this thing, and the government needs to look into it,” he said.

“You understand that if you go outside, you see rubbish everywhere. Unfortunately, the environment department does not see it. They said they would look into it. Unfortunately, we live there, and we went to the ministry two years ago, three years ago even, about the same things, but nothing is being done.”

He added that his association had asked the authorities to remove permits from people who had been caught dumping waste in fields, but said that “unfortunately, this is not being done either”.

Later on Monday, the environment department said the protest was “mainly related to the suspension of the operation of an illegal construction and demolition waste management unit”, and that that closure was “imposed by the competent authorities within the framework” of the law.

It added that it carries out “regular inspection campaigns” across the island, and that in cases where waste is being disposed of illegally, “appropriate enforcement measures are taken”.

This, it said, has seen around €100,000 worth of fines handed out since the start of the year.

It said it is “making every effort to secure the profession of waste collectors and transporters”, and that new legislation to regulate the profession will be brought forward this year.

Additionally, it said, “actions have been launched to utilise suitable areas to host construction and demolition waste management units”.

It added that at the same time, “checks on illegal dumps have been intensified, with local authorities playing a key role in preventing and addressing the phenomenon”.