Limassol buys a beach-cleaning machine for the first time

On 25 June 2026, the Limassol municipality officially put into service a high-tech beach-cleaning machine costing 250,000 euros. The German-made specialist vehicle has already started work on one of the city’s key beaches — Akti Olympion (Ακτή Ολυμπίων). This purchase is intended to radically change standards of shoreline maintenance, where low-efficiency manual labour previously predominated.

Technical features and operating principle of the BeachTech 5500:
The model purchased is produced by a globally recognised leader in this field (the BeachTech brand has been operating since 1991) and is widely used at leading Mediterranean resorts. The cleaning mechanism includes several stages:
— Deep sifting. The machine processes and sifts the sand layer to a depth of up to 15 centimetres.
— Waste collection. The system effectively traps both bulky waste (plastic and glass bottles, tin cans) and fine debris that is difficult to remove by hand: cigarette butts, plastic caps, dangerous shards. All waste is fed into the built-in hopper.
— Final levelling. The cleaned sand is evenly deposited back onto the beach, forming an aesthetic ribbed trail.
— High manoeuvrability. Thanks to its three-wheel design, the BeachTech 5500 can turn almost on the spot, allowing it to carefully manoeuvre around beach umbrellas, sun loungers, shower cabins and other infrastructure elements.

Large-scale coastal modernisation and funding:
The purchase of the specialist equipment is part of a comprehensive strategy to renew the coastal zone. Limassol Mayor Yiannis Armeftis said that spending on the redevelopment of the seafront had been increased almost threefold — from 710,900 euros to 2,157,400 euros.

Within the approved development plan, the following projects have already been implemented and are ongoing:
— Greening. Over the past few months, more than 1,300 trees have been planted along the shore. In the eastern part of Akti Olympion, new mini-groves have been created, and hundreds of tamarisk trees have been planted directly on the sandy strip to create natural shade areas. In addition, in September 2025, around 120 pine trees were planted in the Aktkea Odos (Ακταία Οδός) area. The authorities intend to continue planting in all available areas.
— Sports. Modern areas with outdoor exercise equipment have been installed in two sections of Akti Olympion beach.
— Infrastructure management. Sun loungers and umbrellas on the coast have been fully transferred to direct municipal management. At the same time, the rate for visitors has remained socially oriented — 2.50 euros per seat.
— Watercraft infrastructure. By July 2026, construction of a new boat ramp combined with a pier is nearing completion on the eastern edge of the beach (construction and restoration work began on 27 October 2025). In the same area, the local riverbed was cleared, additional landscaping was carried out and unauthorised access by external vehicles was restricted.
— Environmental monitoring. Monitoring of the cleanliness of the marine area near the beach zones is now carried out on a daily basis by two specialised boats leased by the municipal authorities.