Cyprus misses another green deadline

NICOSIA DITHERS OVER SINGLE-USE PLASTICS BAN, FACES EU SANCTIONS

Cyprus missed another EU green deadline in failing to comply with a directive to ban single-use plastic products.

According to an EU directive, on Saturday, Cyprus should have become part of the EU single-use plastics free zone, but the island ignored the deadline, with Brussels preparing to launch another infringement process.

Cyprus must ban plastic straws, cups, plates, biodegradable plastic bags, drink stirrers and earbuds.

All EU members had until 3 July to transpose the EU directive on SUPs into their national legislation.

Chair of the House Environment Committee, Green Party leader Charalampos Theopemptou said failure to adopt the ban could see Nicosia face a hefty fine from the EU. He said taxpayers have already paid for Cyprus’ “inexplicable inability to meet the 2020 target of 10% of energy consumption produced from renewable energy sources”.

Cyprus has achieved only 3.3%, lowest in Europe, having to pay a whopping EUR 40 mln to buy emission rights.

“But most importantly, SUPs will continue to find their way to our beaches, polluting the seas, poisoning sea life, and even endangering human lives,” said Theopemptou.

He said that Cyprus was nowhere near transposing the directive into the national legislation.

“The bill that had been prepared for transposing the SUP directive into the national legislation by the Environmental Department has not yet been submitted to the House for discussion. Even if it were to be discussed as an urgent matter, it takes four to five weeks before it could be sent to the floor, assuming there are no objections.”

He argued that there would be objections as business circles have already stated they want a transitional period to allow them to use the stock sitting in their storerooms.

Two years to prepare

The Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KEVE) sent a letter to the House and the government, asking that the directive be postponed for six months, arguing that importers and the industry have not had time to prepare for the switch.

Marine Biologist and representative of the Friends of the Earth, Natasa Ioannou, said the state and the industry had two years to prepare.

“Importers of plastic products and local producers were well aware of Cyprus’ obligation as they have been lobbying authorities to delay the implementation of the directive since it was published,” Ioannou said.

She noted that some businesses have already switched to alternative materials, such as producers of fruit juices who have replaced plastic straws with paper ones.

Ioannou acknowledged the industry might have a point in demanding more time as the state has done nothing to indicate it will be implementing the directive, nor has it thought of ways of supporting industry.

“Whatever the case is, Cyprus needs to move forward with implementing the directive and become a single-use plastics free zone if we value the environment, wildlife and our wellbeing.”

She said that over 300 million tonnes of plastic are produced every year for use in a wide variety of applications.

“At least 8 million tonnes of plastic end up in our oceans every year and make up 80% of all marine debris from surface waters to deep-sea sediments.

“Friends of the Earth organize four beach cleanups every year. In 2020, we collected 942 kilos of plastic waste from our beaches during those four cleanups alone.” said the Marine Biologist.

Microplastics from items we use daily find their way to the sea, polluting the waters and poisoning sea life, poisoning the food chain.

Plastic is a perfect material that takes hundreds of years to degrade.

“We all have seen images of turtles and fish with plastic in their mouths or their stomachs.

Marine species ingest or are entangled by plastic debris, which causes severe injuries and deaths.”

Polluting the seas with microplastics kills marine plants responsible for absorbing 10-20 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) every year as they float on the ocean’s surface.

“So, plastic pollution threatens food safety and quality, human health, coastal tourism, and contributes to climate change”.

Plastic beaches

Coastal tourism also suffers, as Cyprus beaches are filled with plastic waste.

“We are selling tourists a promise of clean blue seas and beaches, and when they get here, they find beaches filled with plastic waste.

“As Friends of the Earth, we found ourselves in the difficult position of going to a beach for a clean up and find tourists already cleaning up our beaches.”

Ioannou said: “Recycling and reuse of plastic products, and support for research and innovation to develop new products to replace single-use plastics are necessary to prevent and reduce plastic pollution”.

She argued there are alternatives to single-use plastics on the list to be banned.

“At a later stage, cigarette butts will also be banned. “Large cigarette makers have already replaced plastic butts in their cigarettes with paper ones.”

“There are more trendy solutions, such as deposit return schemes, where consumers throw their plastic waste in recycling bins and get public transport tickets in return.

“Or even stainless steel collapsible drinking straws fashioned into keyrings. Where there is a will, there is a way.

“The ideas are there; what is needed now is the political will to push Cyprus into following what the rest of the Union is already doing.”