LAST SUNDAY, this paper highlighted the ongoing disgrace of Ayia Napa’s rubbish dump overlooking a stunning sea view next to a CTO signposted beauty spot at Cape Greco. Yesterday, we published a photo of a mountain of rubbish on an empty plot in a residential area of Nicosia; as if to taunt residents, the mound had almost entirely submerged a Municipality sign warning of the fines for anyone caught dumping rubbish.
All around the countryside, you see unregulated rubbish dumps, stunning mountain landscapes ruined by rusty fridges and unwanted furniture thrown off the edge of a cliff. Old cars are simply abandoned by the side of the road, left for years to rust away.
It’s one of the things that most disturbs visitors to our island. These pages have often hosted letters from tourists escaping the beaches to discover the beauties of ‘real Cyprus’, only to have their experience spoiled by the landslides of rubbish that scar the most beautiful landscapes of the island.
It’s strange, because this is a country where people are traditionally proud of the impeccable cleanliness of their homes, ashamed to let a visitor see the slightest speck of dust or misplaced ornament. And yet the same person who will obsessively sweep down to the street in front of their home (not to mention hosing it down, but that’s another issue), will often have no compunction in sweeping the leaves, the junk mail, the empty crisp packets and juice cartons into the empty plot next door (if not into the ditch in front of their neighbour’s house)
For few people does that pride of place extend beyond the private sphere into a broader social conscience. If that were the case, the people of Ayia Napa would not have tolerated a festering municipal rubbish dump in such a beautiful place. After all, it’s as if, instead of hiding your bins in a kitchen cupboard, you placed them out in the middle of your living room, right next to the sofa where you invited your guests to sit.
And because elected councils and governments reflect the people that choose them, caring about issues that are seen to be of public concern and so carrying votes, the question of the rubbish that litters our neighbourhoods and our countryside is very low on the public agenda.
Yet if we aspire to be a developed, European country, if we want to show off the best of Cyprus to the tourists who sustain so much of our economy, we cannot allow this to continue. Individuals and, by extension, public authorities need to share the pride they all have in their own homes onto our common country for the greater benefit of all.
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