Cyprus enacts law on separation of hazardous household waste

The Republic of Cyprus is implementing a law on the separation of hazardous household waste. Starting from January 2025, households will be required to separate hazardous waste from regular garbage, which will then be sent to landfills.

Maria Panayiotou, the country's Minister of Agriculture, participated in a presentation dedicated to the 2021 launched project titled "Separate Collection and Disposal of Household Hazardous Waste."

According to the minister, hazardous waste such as chemicals, electronics, batteries, and pharmaceuticals pose serious risks that are often overlooked.

"These items or substances, in one way or another, return to our bodies after poisoning fauna and flora. Everything we throw on the ground comes back to us," stated Maria Panayiotou.

The head of the Ministry of Agriculture added that waste is not just trash that should end up in landfills. It is a natural resource that, with proper recovery and recycling, can be turned into raw materials for new manufacturing processes.

As reported by "Cyprus Mail," the 39-month project, ending this month, was launched to raise public awareness about separate collection of household waste.

It was implemented by the Department of Environment in collaboration with a Nicosia-based development company and financed by the "Norwegian Grants Program for 2014-2021" with a budget of 500,000 euros.

The project involved the creation of four mobile teams that visited 135 local authorities, including 91 small villages and 44 municipalities. This was achieved over five months, starting from October of last year.

The teams also visited primary and secondary schools. The estimated number of students participating in the project was 7,231, and an additional 9,799 community representatives were visited.

During the information campaign, a large amount of hazardous household waste was also collected.