Paphos Life

Again, a very good article in today's CMail, mentioning that thanks to Dominic's drone video proving that the last big fire, at Polemi area, started from an illegal rubbish damp, leading to the government’s newfound sensitivity that illegal dumping sites are proving to be fire hazards.....

https://cyprus-mail.com/2024/07/07/our- ... er-cyprus/

Max

I thought that there will be at least one comment regarding what can be done to stop rubbish dumping....

In my opinion it is good to teach young children about the problem, however also the state has to do more to avoid people just dump everything they don't want anymore into Nature.

The whole Paphos district got only 5 Green Points which are at Peyia, Chloraka, Polis, Koloni and just 2 km from that, Agia Varvara.

https://earth-and-ocean.com/pages/cyprus-green-points

So for the whole of Cyprus only 23 Green Points, which is really a joke....

Max

I live relatively close to a Green Point, unfortunately it still doesn't stop people dumping in the countryside...
And even next to ordinary Green Bins when the green point is maybe only a few minutes drive away....

In Anarita we have a bottle recycling, card and paper recrycling and PMD, plus Cans for Kids. It is next to the cemetery. The area is an absolute disgrace. It's being used for commercial tipping of card and plastic. The other day the card and plastic bins were heaving and had only been emptied the day before. I had to move a load of cardboard to get to the bottle recycling bank. Someone dumps old aircon units in the pastic recycling.The ground all around is littered with broken glass, and, according to the Cyprus Mail, one of the fires was started by broken glass.
Also, the B6 is full of litter at the side of the road, including bottles. I'm a plodder on my bike and I like to ride on the shoulder at the side of the road, but, in places, it is full of glass, not from windscreens but bottles thrown out of car windows.

A few weeks ago,there were roadsweepers tidying up the sides of the road on the B6. They left all there bags almost opposite the Green Forest Garden Centre, on the approach road for Anarita and the motorway. They are still there, but now have been ripped open by animals and the rubbish is everywhere.

Solution, heavy fines for littering. Education and tv ads. Cameras installed at poins where dumping occurs. Other countries have solved this problem.

Although not an excuse one of the issues that contributes towards illegal dumping is lack of commercial dumping sites, our charity in shop in Polis is not allowed to use our local Green Point as we’re deemed as a commercial business as our van has sign writing on it, our driver has to take rubbish which is mainly old furniture,and electrical items to the centre at Peyia. I don’t condone illegal dumping at all but you can see one of the problems here.

Yes, we gave our divan bed with drawers to a charity, but even though the mattress was still in reasonable condition they couldn't accept it and we had to give them money to get rid of it at the dump. The money was for the dump not the collectors. Poor people probably can't afford to pay this and end up flying tipping instead. It's the same problem in other countries, that's why you can see large items of furniture in people's front gardens in poorer areas of the UK

I am currently in London the minute and have been using the local recycling unit ( Dump in old money) well organised free to use,
The problems here is not private people fly dipping, rather people being paid to dispose of it , and taking the cheap way out by dumping it any where, the traveling community make a lot of money doing this, they are not the only ones but a big % of it.
Over in cyprus , they should improve and extend the dumps available in all areas

Fly tipping is about the lazy mentality of people.
Rather than take it to the tip they throw it out in the country side, with the mind set of out of sight out of mind.

It is a problem here in the UK too. I bought a new bed recently, and not being able to get it to my local tip myself, I rang the council, and asked about their service for waste disposal of large items, yes they would do it, at a cost, BUT, I would have to get my items outside to be collected, they're not insured to come into my property.

Unfortunately, my years of lugging a double mattress down a flight of stairs is long gone, and family aren't near to me. Trying to do 'the right thing', I rang Age UK, no help there, in the end, I had to pay £90 to a registered waste disposal company, to take it away. The council don't help themselves, no wonder some guy takes things away for twenty quid, and dumps them in a field somewhere. You can see why people will pay them just to get rid. If the council made it easier, fly tipping might not happen.

The cost to the council, and in effect us, of removing items from illegal dumps, is surely better spent on helping remove items legally when needed, without the rules for fools. Just maybe extended insurance for their employees is cheaper in the long run.

Tremithousa is a prime example of the illegal dumping problem. Green bins overflowing within a day of being emptied. The bottle and PMD recycling sites overwhelmed with all sorts of rubbish including old furniture, air conditioners and piles of cardboard boxes! We walk our dogs along various dirt tracks around the village and all around you see are dumps of garden waste, mattresses, builders rubble and other debris! Spoke with our Muhktar and he said simply will look into it!