CYPRUS HAS come under serious fire from the European Commission, which has threatened us with legal measures if the government does not rid itself of dangerous substances that are posing a serious threat to the ozone layer.
A total of 3,300 kilos of controlled substances that deplete the ozone layer have been collected and stored by the Environmental Services. Around 1,300 kg collected from the private sector were exported to Germany in late June to be destroyed.
The substance, a freezing gas, was found in a luxury hotel in Limassol that was renovated last year.
Dangerous substances that have been collected from public buildings will be transferred out of the island once offers have been accepted for their exportation.
These substances are called halons and can be found in green air-gas fire extinguishes.
With the exception of the National Guard as the extinguishers are considered the most effective to deal with fires and explosions.
Some halons have the ability to destroy the ozone layer ten times higher that that of the most powerful chlorofthorocarbonate.
The biggest threat to the ozone are substances used in the freezing and air-conditioning sectors, fire extinguishing, foam materials, aerosol cans and dilutive.
According to the European Commission, these substances cannot be recycled and therefore must be destroyed using an environmentally acceptable method.
The emission of ozone-unfriendly substances, such as [alogonomenoi] hydrocarbons, create serious damages to the ozone’s layer and increase UV-B radiation, which is not only a serious threat for the environment, but also to public health, because it provokes skin cancer.
Environmental officer Dr Charalambos Hadjipakkos has said that the government is currently investigating the possibility of adopting a collection and destruction system, which will be 50 per cent funded. Such a plan needs to be approved by the Public Enforcement Registrar and it has been estimated that it could be implemented by January 2007.
The Commission sent the Republic’s Environmental Services an explanatory letter, warning the government of violation of the acquis communautaire where the destruction of the ozone layer is concerned.
Among others, the Union has berated Cyprus for not reporting the quantities of controlled substances that were collected and destroyed, not regulating the qualifications of the technicians that deal with the controlled substances and not implementing measures for the control of leakage from controlled substances.
Some of the weaknesses pointed out by the Commission were covered by two bills prepared by the Electromechanical Services’ Department, for the licensing of car-freezing technicians and steady equipment.
The first bill was passed but the second one not.
If the second bill is passed, then the responsibility of destroying substances will fall within the companies’ maintenance technicians.
The European Commission has also threatened to take the Cypriot Republic to the European Court for neglecting to declare a decontamination plan for an EAC transformer, which contains more than 500 litres of dangerous substances and hasn’t been declared to the EU.
Cyprus received a warning letter on July 10 and has been ordered to conform by September 4 in order to avoid being fined.
PCBs are substances with chemical stability, not flammable and with electrical isolation qualities. They were used as dielectric fluids in electrical equipment, such as transformers, televisions, heating appliances and others.
These substances are considered very dangerous for public health because they can cause cancer in animals, leading to serious consequences to human health.
According to the Environmental Services, the Cyprus government has listed the appliances that contain PCBs and sent to the EC information on the listings, a summary of the catalogues of appliances that contain or may contain PCBs above the acceptable limits – as set by the Directive – a report on the method that was used to list the appliances, the conclusions of the study and the next steps that need to be taken.
According to the EAC, the authority has prepared and adjusted a system, as the basic holder of transformers and says it has already decontaminated all its appliances, with the result of only one appliance being found and added to the list, containing 500 litres of PCBs.
Another 40 appliances have been spotted containing 0.005-0.05 per cent per weight.
