Cyprus approves €162m interim waste plans, long-term decisions due 2028

Cyprus is set to take permanent decisions on its waste management infrastructure for the coming decades in 2028, while interim solutions worth a total of €162 million are being advanced for Kotsiatis and Pentakomo, as reported by Cyprus Mail. The announcement was made on Thursday before the parliamentary Committee on Public Accounts, where the country's continued reliance on landfilling municipal waste came under scrutiny. Landfilling currently accounts for 65% of waste disposal and must fall below 10% by 2035.

Kostas Konstantinou, Director-General of the Environment Directorate at the Ministry of Agriculture, told the committee that waste management has become one of the most serious problems facing Cyprus. He said a study is under way covering existing facilities across the island, the problems they face and possible scenarios for permanent arrangements, with final decisions expected in 2028.

For the Kotsiatis facility, an upgrade involving a third processing line is being examined so the plant can operate for another seven to nine years. The budget for that upgrade is estimated at about €100 million. For Pentakomo, the cost of the interim solution is put at €62 million.

Konstantinou noted that Kotsiatis, which has been operating for 16 years and receives around 190,000 tonnes of waste annually, has reached the limits of its capacity. The situation worsened after 2018, when the closure of the Kotsiatis landfill led the plant to start taking waste from the Nicosia district as well.

On Pentakomo, he said the contract with the contractor was terminated by the state in 2023 and a police investigation is ongoing, so he could not provide further details. He added that since the facility was taken over by the Water Development Department, the situation has improved significantly.

He also referred to the uncontrolled waste disposal sites at Kotsiatis and Vati, for which the Republic of Cyprus has been convicted at European level and a penalty determination process is currently under way. After those sites closed, Nicosia district waste was redirected to the Kotsiatis facility and Limassol waste to the Pentakomo facility.

Cyprus must bring landfilling below 10% by 2035 and raise recycling to 65%. At present, landfilling stands at 65% and recycling at 16%. Konstantinou said the "pay as you throw" system will be rolled out gradually, starting with charges on mixed waste to create an incentive to reduce it, followed by organic waste management and then the uncontrolled disposal sites.

Evangelos Theodoridis, Senior First Auditor for Technical Audit at the Audit Office, said the service has monitored the issue over time, with the first relevant report issued in 2014 and the most recent in 2022. He mentioned the tendering process and disputes with the Kotsiatis contractor, as well as extensions granted, and said a new report is expected within 2027.

Yianna Ioannidou, representing the Office of the Commissioner for the Environment, conveyed the Commissioner's suggestion that future planning should allow the District Self-Governance Organisations (EOAs) to create environmentally friendly waste management units capable of producing energy and generating revenue.

EOA representatives then raised concerns about the transfer of waste management responsibility to them. Nicosia EOA Director-General Konstantinos Parmaklis said the Interior Ministry has recently proposed that the transfer take place in 2029 instead of 1 July 2027 as originally envisaged. He said there is also concern that if the EU imposes fines on Cyprus over waste management shortfalls, the cost could ultimately be passed on to local government and citizens. Representatives of the Limassol, Larnaca and Paphos EOAs also pointed to uncertainty over when and on what terms they will take on the responsibility.

Stella Parmaki, representing the Employers and Industrialists Federation, said businesses can contribute to tackling the waste management problem, noting that recent meetings have taken place, particularly on organic waste.

Dinos Nicolaidis, representing the Scientific and Technical Chamber of Cyprus (ETEK), said the waste management problem spans more than 20 years and that the 2006 Kotsiatis plan did not deliver the expected results. Efi Xanthou, representing the Federation of Environmental Organisations of Cyprus (OPOK), argued that an integrated waste management system still does not exist, expressing concern about taxes being imposed on citizens.

Committee vice-chairman and DIKO MP Chrysanthos Savvides then gave the floor to committee members. DISY MP Andreas Konstantinou asked whether there is any direction toward creating sorting units, to which the Ministry's Director-General replied negatively. The MP also noted that, based on his experience as a former mayor of Aglantzia, collecting organic waste is very difficult.