An appropriate waste management infrastructure is underway, the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment said in a statement following Monday's announcement regarding the reasoned opinion of the European Commission for the infringement concerning directive provisions.

The Ministry noted that in recent months, with absolute dedication and coordinated efforts, it has proceeded with the completion of the network of mixed and separately collected municipal waste management infrastructures, as provided for by the 2022-2028 Municipal Waste Management Plan.

The Ministry is proceeding with the establishment of a comprehensive and appropriate network of municipal waste management facilities, including the upgrade of the Pentakomo and Koshi Waste Management Plants. 

The upgrading of the existing municipal waste treatment plants aims to enable them to process both the total amount of mixed municipal waste they receive and the separately collected organic waste. Furthermore, the termination of waste disposal at the Paphos Landfill is also underway.

The Ministry also pointed out that the first action for the implementation of the plan is the preparation of a Feasibility Study - Sustainability that will examine the degree of compliance of the existing infrastructure, the need to build new infrastructure per province as well as the need for energy recovery of the residues after waste treatment.

The process for an open public tender for the preparation of the study is at an advanced stage and the tender is expected to be published in early 2025, the Ministry said.

It also underlined that conditions are right and with the cooperation of all involved bodies the creation of the waste management infrastructures will offer a substantial and sustainable solution to an issue that has been of concern to Cyprus for a long time.

The Ministry will brief the EC an all these steps while competent Minister Maria Panayiotou will have the chance to convey them to the European Commissioner for the Environment with whom she is meeting on Tuesday.