From Linear to Circular in Cyprus: Rethinking

21 September 2024 , By Kyriakos Parpounas | Sustainability Expert

As we navigate the complexities of the 21 st century, Cyprus is uniquely positioned to lead by example in adopting a sustainable and resilient economic model. One such model is the circular economy – a transformative approach that holds the promise of a brighter, more sustainable future through environmental preservation, economic resilience and well-being.

The circular economy is a paradigm shift from the traditional linear economy, which follows a ‘take-make- dispose’ pattern. Instead, circular economy (CE) models aiming to optimise the use of resources and to design out waste materials and pollution in a market, contribute to more sustainable, resilient and independent economies. Cyprus, as an island, stands to benefit immensely from promoting circularity, due to its size and heavy reliance on imports.

CE solutions are achieved when there are incentives for industrial synergies and symbiosis, as well as exchange of information on best practices and the use of materials. Waste streams of one industry can be raw material inputs for another industry. What is well known in the EU and lie in the heart of the CE model, is the 9 Rs shown in the diagram which are derived from the three main objectives of CE in the right boxes in the figure.

Resource circularity initiatives depend many times on scale. You need to have sufficient generation of secondary raw materials to make it feasible to prepare it for reuse and recycling and a good number of off-takers interested in the use of the resource directly, or as a raw material in their production.

Cyprus’ situation creates certain unique challenges to circularity since the EU regulation is suspended in the northern part of the island, having direct implications on the market and the economy. This means the deployment of circular economy solutions in Cyprus require innovative solutions to enhance resource circles and scale. Cypriots have a great incentive to collaborate on waste and pollution management for example, to protect the environment of their island. Elements of circularity like industrial symbiosis for instance, would have a different perspective if the island was unified.

Better collaboration between the Greek Cypriot (GCc) and Turkish Cypriot communities (TCc) may improve the uptake of circular economy solutions due to higher volumes of materials and economies of scale. Presently for instance, there are limited recycling facilities for recyclables on the island and a large percentage of waste collected and sorted is exported. However, with collaboration between the two communities, the scale for the processing of waste locally may create viable commercial opportunities, creating local value added and new green jobs on the island for many young professionals.

Therefore, since the overarching aim is to reduce our society’s environmental impact, then in order to promote circularity of resources and maximise its potential, we must find ways to turn the Cyprus’ challenges into opportunities through collaboration. The environmental problems we face are not contained within geographical regions; crossings do not help stop the impacts of environmental problems on our health and well-being. They have impacts island wide.

Despite the challenges, there are also positive elements and developments in the direction of circularity. In the GCc, the implementation of the EU legislation has led to the mandatory implementation of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging, waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), batteries, tyres and paper. These systems are funded by the industry and are aimed to collect and recycle large amounts of material, to meet demanding EU recycling targets for these materials. The EPR systems have had a very significant impact on the increase of the recycling performance in the GCc. They have collected and prepared for recycling large amounts of material over the years (i.e. more that 700,000 tons of packaging and paper, more than 600 tons of portable batteries, more that 30,000 tons of WEEE etc.). Some indicative figures issued by Green Dot Cyprus in 2015 for the impact of the recycling of packaging are as follows:

These can be used to derive the impact of the recycling or packaging in the whole lifespan of Green Dot Cyprus, when 700,000 tons of packaging have been recycled. Of course, a lot of the final recycling is done abroad (material is exported for recycling) due to the small scale of the market, which again raises the fact that we could do better locally if we had systems in place to collect the recyclables island wide.

Besides recycling, the collection of more material at the end of their life create opportunities for reuse. The EPR systems have undertaken many initiatives for reuse in different formats. They have been working with civil society organizations interested in reuse and have been providing electrical and electronic equipment to them for free for refurbishment and reuse. The WEEE EPR system under WEEE Cyprus, has always given priority to reuse and uses a local WEEE reuse company to evaluate and reuse any electronic equipment that has reuse potential locally or internationally. Noticeable quantities of WEEE have been promoted to reuse through this collaboration over the last 15 years.

The EPR systems have also used different opportunities to communicate to the citizens of different creative ways to promote reuse of material like the following:

On the other hand, in the TCc, there is still an active product repairs sector which contributes significantly to the potential to reuse products from existing owners, or to resell refurbished products to other interested parties. This is a sector that has diminished in the TCc over the years, so the experiences in the TCc can provide good examples on how to revive the repair sector, which is crucial for the promotion of reuse of various products.

The transition to a circular economy is not without challenges, but the rewards are immense. Definitely, the most important R then from the 9 Rs of CE is to rethink. By rethinking what we do every day, how we consume, how we waste resources, we can find a lot of positive alternatives for the better utilisation of resources to improve circularity on our island, safeguarding its environment, creating jobs young professionals and inspiring others to follow suit.

Kyriakos Parpounas

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The content of this blog is the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.

From Linear to Circular in Cyprus: Rethinking

Kyriakos Parpounas

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