A TECHNICAL problem at the Kofinou incinerator has resulted in the accumulation of hundreds of tons of meat waste.
The head of the Veterinary Services, Charalambos Kakoyiannis, yesterday described the development as a “time bomb ready to explode”.
He sent a dramatic plea to the company, Vouros Ltd, for all efforts to be put into fixing the fault and restoring the operation of the second and largest incineration unit in Kofinou.
He also called on the owners of the other two units to meet and co-operate and avert possible chaos. One of these two units has also been out of operation for the past five days, while the other is used to incinerate dead animals and other materials, and has a capacity of just 20 tons. The Kofinou unit is capable of processing around 70 tons of waste per day.
“The second unit has been out of operation for the past four or five days and within that time, so many tons of waste have accumulated that if it doesn’t operate, we will have a small time bomb on our hands,” said Kakoyiannis.
He thanked Nicosia Mayor Eleni Mavrou for allowing the Veterinary Services to use the Kotsiatis landfill to bury almost 300 tons of waste.
The company Vouros, which manufactured the Kofinou incinerator, yesterday announced efforts were being made to fix the fault.
The company’s manager Giorgos Tragos said the problem was expected to be sorted by today.
“Our technicians have been there since morning, while we have also brought people from outside the company and we have started proceedings to fix the problem,” said Tragos.
“The problem is difficult and quite serious and dangerous,” he added. “There are 16 people working on them and I believe that soon I will be told that the fault is corrected.
“I am hoping that by late afternoon we will be able to start its operation.”
He said there were no quantities of waste left at the factory. “We will not collect waste until we know we are more than halfway towards fixing the problem.
“The butchers can retain waste for one day, they are small quantities – around 50 to 60 kilos – so they can keep them in their fridges for today.”
The Green Party said the situation was unacceptable. The party’s press spokeswoman, Ioanna Panayiotou, blamed the authorities for the problem, as she said they had failed to listen to the Greens’ suggestion to use the Veterinary Services’ incinerator in Nicosia whenever problems like this arise.
“The previous minister promised us at the time that this would happen; however, four months later, the incinerator remains out of operation for no apparent reason. The Veterinary Services’ incinerator, even though it is small, would help sort this problem.
“We are waiting for [Agriculture Minister Fotis] Fotiou to explain to us why this hasn’t taken place.”
