Cypriot MPs told few imported waste tyres are legally scrapped

Cypriot MPs were told by the Audit Office last week that about 35 per cent of scrap tyres imported into Cyprus every year pass through the port in Limassol without being subject to an environmental fee. Moreover, not all these waste tyres are properly disposed of.

Approximately 12,000t of imported tyres end up at the cement factory in Vassiliko where they are burned and used as fuel. However, thousands of them end up in illegal landfills.

MPs also heard that significant gaps in the country's tyre waste management system were shown, particularly in terms of collection, transport, temporary storage and re-use and recovery of waste.