By Annette Chrysostomou
Underground waste systems have many advantages, and Cyprus will see more of them in the future, local government officials have said.
Early in 2016, a total of 64 large underground refuse containers for the collection and recycling of household waste will be installed in Larnaca.
Along the Larnaca seafront, 16 points will be set up. Each of them will have four containers, 25 paper compressors and a shredder for garden trimmings. In order to facilitate recycling, there are separate containers for paper, glass and plastic.
According to Larnaca Mayor Andreas Louroutjiatis, a major objective is to eliminate the visual and environmental nuisance caused by the existing unsightly green wheelie bins along the seafront. It will also increase the volume of recyclable garbage produced by the city and enable an organised collection from areas where there are plenty such materials.
“The town managed to get funding from a European programme for the handling, collection and treatment of refuse,” the mayor said, “the application of the municipality was approved, bids for the works and the necessary equipment were opened and it is expected that the programme will run in the first quarter of 2016.”
The programme will cover the area from Ayios Pavlos square along the Phinikoudes to the end of Piale Pashia and Tassos Mitsopoulos roads.
“The project involves 64 large underground containers for rubbish collection and recycling of household garbage which will be placed in these areas. Two special garbage trucks with cranes will also be purchased,” he said.
In addition, the municipality is going to buy a small garbage truck to facilitate the collection of waste in the narrow streets of the former Turkish Cypriot district.
“The total cost of the programme,” Louroutjiatis told the Sunday Mail, “amounts to €1.7 million. The municipality will only pay for maintenance, a fee of €80,000 over four years. That’s 20,000 a year which is not a huge amount and is part of our budget.”
He also explained that there are two hidden economic benefits. The first is the potential income from the sale of the recyclable materials collected. “The municipality is waiting for the start of the project to start running the tender process. First we have to see how much we are going to collect.”
The second benefit is the lower volume of garbage that will go to Koshi sorting plant for recycling. The mayor has done the maths. “If we send 2000 tons less, for example, the saving will be €150,000.”
The management and maintenance of equipment will eventually be owned entirely by Larnaca municipality.
Nicosia municipality is also moving towards installing more underground garbage containers. There are currently six, and more are planned.
Four were installed as a pilot project in 2011 next to Ayios Antonios market and near Eleftheria Square, and after an assessment took place, two more were positioned near the bus station in Solomou square this year.
The containers have a large capacity for refuse materials, seven times more than the conventional wheelie bins of 1100 litres. This, Nicosia municipality spokesman Makis Nicolaides said, “helps save money because they only need to be emptied once a week instead of three to four times.”
They are less offensive to the eye then other containers as the only visible part is a ground column which is about one metre high. The green bins which are generally used can also be a physical obstacle.
“They move and get in the way of people, either ending up in the middle of the road or on the pavement,” Nicolaides added.
Due to these advantages more bins are planned as part of the upgrade of the Makarios Avenue-Stassikratous-Evagorou triangle.
However, some problems also emerged during the testing of the pilot project. The placement of the containers needs a big underground space which is not already taken by water pipes and cables. Also, above ground, electric poles and cables can get in the way of the waste collection, as the big bins need to be emptied via a crane.
Michalis Lagos, health inspector of the Nicosia municipality, acknowledges the disadvantages but said there are many reasons to promote the underground system. “You can store the waste at the same temperature for days, and it is not in direct sunlight. The outside waste is exposed to rodents, flies and cats and smells.”
There are other potential benefits, Lagos explained. The system has technological possibilities. For example, cards can be issued to a number of individuals to control who is allowed to use the bins. A sensor can then check how much each user throws away, so that they can be charged accordingly. Alternatively, a sensor can detect when a bin is full. The use of these technologies in future depends on which of them are deemed cost saving.
Summing up, the health inspector said it is just the beginning of the use of underground waste systems in both the public and private sector.
