The management of solid domestic waste is a necessity and a priority at the same time for Cyprus, both to ensure and protect the environment and public health and to adopt the relevant directives on the environmental policy of the European Union in this domain.
On 26.8.2015 the Council of Ministers decided to transfer the duties of the Ministry of the Interior which were provided for in the Waste Law (L185(Ι)/2011) to the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and the Environment (decision no: 79.302).
The Ministerial Decision came in force on 5 February 2016 following the vote of the relevant amendment of Law 185(I)/2011 by the House of Representatives. In accordance with the Waste (amendment) Law 3(Ι)/2016 the licensing or renewal of operator’s permits for the collection, transport and disposal of waste as well as the licensing or renewal of business licences of treatment/ recycling, excavation, construction and demolition plants (RECD) as well as the licensing of individual or collective RECD management systems and of plants for the treatment/ composting of waste, gardens and parks is carried out by the Department for the Environment of the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and the Environment.
Furthermore, it was decided that the implementation of the new infrastructure projects provided for in the National Strategy shall be promoted by the Water Development Department (WDD) while the Ministry of the Interior shall finalise those projects that were in progress at the given time. It is stressed that the Ministry of the Interior undertook the implementation of the infrastructure projects on behalf of the Local Administration, which was unable to undertake their implementation. Upon the completion of the construction of the works and in accordance with the Boards for the Exploitation of Sites for the Disposal or Recovery of Domestic waste Law [85(Ι)/2005], the Ministry of the Interior delegates the projects to the corresponding District Exploitation Boards to manage and operate them.
The website of the Department for the Environment which is the competent Department for the establishment of the national Policy in the field of waste management contains more information in relation to the National Strategy for Waste Management.