PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
Cyprus has one of the EU’s highest levels of municipal waste production per capita (636 kg per person a year). The country’s waste management relies mostly on landfilling (almost 80%), while just 17% of total waste is recycled (material and composting). Recycling activities take place through extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes for packaging waste, batteries, and electric and electronic waste. Cyprus lags behind in terms of achieving the targets of the EU Landfill Directive, EU Waste Framework Directive and the objectives of the EU’s circular economy action plan. This is mostly because of structural inefficiencies such as:
- Lack of infrastructure and collection systems for recyclable and biodegradable waste;
- Lack of coordination between different administrative levels and insufficient law enforcement at the local level;
- Lack of incentives, such as economic instruments to prevent waste production and improve recycling; and
- Ineffective EPR schemes for packaging in Cyprus
- Insufficient monitoring and enforcement of activities.
OBJECTIVES
The overall objective of the LIFE-IP CYzero WASTE integrated project (IP) is to address and implement EU and national legislation on waste management and the circular economy, through catalysation of full implementation of the National Waste Management Plan and the National Waste Prevention Strategy, addressing main gaps identified in the Environmental Implementation Review for Cyprus (2019) and the Early Warning Report for Cyprus (2018).
The project’s specific objectives include:
- Implementation of concrete waste management actions that will support, enhance and maximise the application of the waste hierarchy and the separate collection of waste streams;
- Development of demonstration actions in targeted fields (food waste and agrowaste prevention, reuse/repair, recycling, hazardous household waste management, marine debris management, economic instruments/incentives) in numerous rural, semi rural and urban areas;
- Enhancement of the use of economic instruments in support of the circular economy and bioeconomy (landfill tax introduction combined with a waste management fund, PAYT schemes, standardization of secondary raw materials);
- Introduction of institutional changes by establishing an administrative structure (a new waste management coordination body) that will implement the national strategy;
- Dissemination and communication of the project’s results to enable the replication of demonstration actions in other geographical areas in Cyprus;
- Mobilisation of external financial resources;
- Improvement of awareness of key stakeholders, authorities and the general public.
In addition to the IP budget itself, the project will facilitate the coordinated use of more than €62 million in complementary funding from the European Regional Development Fund, the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility and the European Economic Area and Norway Grants, as applicable.
RESULTS
Expected results:
- Separate collection of biowaste introduced in 50 rural, semirural and urban areas;
- Separate collection of dry recyclables improved in rural and semirural areas through the demonstration of 20 Green Kiosks;
- Household waste (HHW) management schemes introduced by demonstrating 4 fully operational mobile units and 2 HHW centres to enable the collection and management of HHW by municipalities and communities;
- Increased effort for prevention of food waste and agrowaste;
- 20 pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) systems demonstrated which aim, together with the introduction of a landfill tax, to facilitate the process towards a circular economy model;
- Marine debris collection systems implemented in fishing shelters;
- Capacity building enhanced to increase awareness on waste management;
- Waste management organisation body established to support implementation of the national strategy; and
- Complementary funds mobilised from the European Structural and Investment Funds, the European Economic Area and Norway Grants, the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility and other sources.
