By Christos Zachariades
Management Consultant
The publicity given to the upcoming Pay As You Throw plan and the requirement to separate municipal waste, such as organic waste, at their place of production (homes and commercial premises) has created a wave of misinformation and confusion. At the same time, advertisements and other texts are circulating stating that it is a legal obligation for businesses to proceed with the acquisition of special equipment, for example composting, by the end of this year, which is not the case.
This text presents a presentation of the main requirements. As a starting point, the legal basis for this matter is the Waste (Management of Municipal Waste by Local Government Authorities) Regulations 2022 (Κ.Δ.Π. 292/2022) which are available from the link https://www.cylaw.org/KDP/data/2022_1_292.pdf.
The "Pay As You Throw " system is based on the volume of waste produced by each household and business thus promoting its reduction, reuse and recycling and it will be implemented from June 2024 (and not January 2024 as erroneously stated in some announcements) A deadline was given until the end of 2023 to all municipalities and communities to prepare and make their plans on how they will manage the waste they will collect, who they will work with, where the waste will end up, etc. Later, until June 2024, i.e. six months after the plans are prepared and approved by the Department of the Environment, the implementation of "Pay as I Throw" will begin.
It is a general requirement that all households and businesses that generate municipal waste are obliged to separate it at source and either place it for separate collection or take it to designated collection points. Each local government authority is required to implement, within its administrative boundaries, either individually or collectively in cooperation with other local government authorities, a system of mandatory sorting at source and separate collection, which meets the minimum technical specifications and requirements specified. The sorting system will also cover organic waste and more specifically biodegradable kitchen and restaurant waste (with code 20 01 08) and biodegradable garden and park waste (with code 20 02 01).
The work of collecting and transporting organic waste is carried out only by licensed collectors and transporters, with vehicles suitable for the transport of organic waste. Therefore, businesses will not process organic waste on their premises, but will separate it and collect it from the compulsory sorting system of the local government to which they belong. Businesses not served by their local authority's collection system are required to ensure, as a minimum, that waste arising from their premises is separated at source in accordance with and subsequently collected by licensed waste managers or holders of registration certificates for waste collection and transport and delivered to a licensed facility.
In addition, businesses may, following relevant authorization from the relevant local government authority, deliver their waste directly to licensed waste managers or holders of registration certificates for the collection and transport of waste for delivery to a licensed waste management facility, in accordance with conditions set out in the authorization, Each business will collect, separate and place the organic waste in special bins which will be collected by the local government.
These will go to special units to be converted into gases for energy production and topsoil. However, there is not a sufficient number of units and other infrastructure to process them. Taking into account the above, we recommend that you do not rush to purchase equipment and organize infrastructure in your area, but wait for the plans to be approved by your local authority.
