Aglandjia to introduce ‘pay as you throw’

By Constantinos Psillides

Aglandjia municipality will be introducing a trash metering system for residents, charging them for waste based on how much they produce, according to Mayor Costas Cortas.

In an interview given to the Cyprus News Agency, Cortas said that the municipality was in the process of securing EU funding for the “Pay As You Throw” (PAYT) project.

“When the pilot programme is fully implemented we will be able to charge every resident based on how much waste his household produces,” said Cortas, adding that there were some reactions initially but everybody seemed to be on board now.

The municipality also has 600 special garbage bins in a designated area within its boundaries where people can drop-off their garbage and be charged based on how much they produced.

Cortas explained that the bins were fitted with a electronic system that registers the total weight of the waste disposed, along with the resident’s address and the date of disposal. On collection, the municipality then charges the resident accordingly.

“Not only is this method more fair to people who don’t produce a lot of waste, it will also give an additional incentive for recycling,” said Cortas. He said Aglandjia had the highest recycling rate islandwide.

The municipality’s green policies also extend to recycling cooking oil, which it turns into fuel, benefiting local schools.

Cortas also said that he was planning a campaign to promote the municipality’s environmental policies, asking residents for their cooperation and help.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.