RUBBISH bins with electronic spy chips will be provided to Aglandjia residents starting January 2011, as part of a pilot programme aiming at the reduction of household waste.
As part of the Municipal Council’s attempts to find a fair garbage levy system, gradually eliminate dumping sites and minimise pollution of the environment, the ‘pay as you throw’ system proposed also aspires to boost the existing recycling programme.
Municipality representatives conducted research for a better rubbish disposal system, and visited Belgium last November, where the microchip-bin system is used. Such bins have also recently been installed in various areas of the UK.
The way the system works is that residents will apply to the Municipality and will receive specialised microchip-installed bins or just the microchips if they wish to use their existing bins.
A garbage truck which incorporates a chip-recognition system will make weight measurements while it raises and brings down the bin, weighing the amount of waste that each household produces.
In the case that the system involves pre-payment, the garbage truck will not empty the bins if there is no credit in the specific account. An invoice will be automatically sent to every household registered in the programme at regular time intervals.
“Everyone considers this system to be the fairest one,” said Andreas Petrou, Mayor of Anglandjia, “since residents will be charged according to the amount of waste they produce.” In this way, the ‘pay as you throw’ program aims to encourage recycling, an act that inevitably decreases household waste.
The area chosen for the ‘pay as you throw’ pilot programmr is the one south of Larnaca Avenue and northwest of Ammochostos Avenue in Aglandjia, which will need approximately 400 bins that will be purchased by the Municipality. The trial period will start in January 2011 and will last a year.
According to Interior Minister Neoclis Sylikiotis, the results of the Aglandjia pilot program will determine whether the system will be applied throughout Cyprus.
Cypriots generate 770kg of waste on average – 10 kilos per person more than the average American. In the EU only Danes produce more but only four per cent goes into landfills compared to 87 per cent in Cyprus.
