Deadlock in talks with skip owners over high cost

Owners of skip waste containers said Friday they would announce their next move after they were told during a meeting with Agriculture Minister Costas Kadis that there would be no change to the high cost of disposing of the waste they collect.

At the moment, the sole collection centre in the Nicosia district is charging €150 for the contents of one skip, with the charge to customers rising to between €280 and €290.

The standard skip price customers paid so far has been €120.

The price change was due to the fact that, as of last month, they were asked to take the waste they collect to a new processing unit in Dali after the one they used to take it to, in Mitsero at much lower fees, lost its license following a fire at the beginning of July.

The association of licensed skip owners of Nicosia, which staged a protest some 10 days go over the high price were hoping to find a solution during their meeting with Kadis on Friday.

According to information, the meeting did not go well for the skip owners who were told there would be no change in the cost, and alternatives were given.

Following the meeting, the agriculture minister said they decided to handle the situation and would aid the skip owners “as much as we can.”

The association is to discuss the matter next week and decide their next moves.  It said on Thursday that they were thinking of going on strike.

One skip owner told the Cyprus Mail the situation spelt doom for their businesses as the new prices would be prohibitive for most people. “I’m, desperate, I don’t know what to do,” the skip owner said. He said it would also encourage fly-tipping as people would now think twice about renting a skip.

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.