Single-use plastic products banned from October 1 in Cyprus

Your children’s birthday parties are about to include a load more washing up: From October 1, a bunch of single use plastic items, such as cutlery, plates and straws will be banned in Cyprus. 

And don’t forget your carrier bag – as plastic shopping bags are to be scrapped entirely from shops as of February 18, 2023. 

Greens leader Charalambos Theopemptou reminded the public on Wednesday of the EU 2019/904 directive which sets out the bans. He reiterated that many other goods are to be banned, too, such as single use chopsticks and food and drinks containers made of expanded polystyrene (foam).  

He bemoaned, however, that some shops and members of the public continued to buy and supply banned plastic goods brought over from the north.  

The environment department in April stated that that some products such as wet wipes, pads and tampons, and even tobacco products with filters containing plastic, are included in the scope of the directive. 

The law, necessary to harmonise Cyprus with the EU directive on reducing the impact of plastic products on the environment was passed earlier this year, although the EU directive should have been transposed into law by July 2021. 

MPs had previously narrowly approved an amendment for a three-month extension from the initial extension on the implementation date of April 30 until September 30 to allow the sale of single-use plastics and exhaust the stocks, provided their order was placed before July 3, 2021, when all EU member states should have adopted the directive into law. 

This was an additional extension to a previous amendment to the bill by the House environment committee which extended the availability of the stock of single-use plastic products to April 30, provided the order was placed on the market before July 3, 2021.