STATISTICAL SERVICE OF CYPRUS

ENVIRONMENT STATISTICS UNIT

Michael Karaolis Street, CY-1444 Nicosia, Cyprus

Waste quantities generated in the country, by NACE activity and by waste stream category and waste quantities treated (final treatment) in the country (including imports) according to the provisions of the Waste Statistics Regulation.

For waste types, the European Waste Catalogue is used. Administrative sources provide data according to the List of Waste (LoW) codes. Enterprises that may don't know the LoW, give a description of their waste and then the allocation is made to waste types. Waste treatment facilities provide information about recovery (R) and disposal (D) treatment codes.

Waste generation and waste treatment data (set 1 & set 2) have complete coverage. The data refer to all waste generated in the country, covering all economic activities and households, as well as all waste treated nationally.

Information is missing about the capacity of disposal sites for inert waste for most of the landfills, as well as the number of backfilling sites. The capacity of landfills for inert waste until now was not reported due to the lack of data. No volumetric measurements were made by the enterprises. After discussing the matter with the Department of Environment, one enterprise was able to proceed to volumetric measurements for 2020. 

Statistical concepts and definitions used are based on the thorough implementation of the provisions of the Waste Statistics Regulation and the guidelines being given by Eurostat

Data are reported in tonnes of normal wet waste; for sludge (Stat-EWC 3.2, 3.3,11, 12.7), the dry matter in tonnes is reported. However, there are some waste codes in the chemical waste category, with a very high content of water. In cases like this, the treatment plants are providing us an average % of the solids included in the waste and we apply it. 

Waste generation data refers to waste generated on the national territory (Government controlled area of Cyprus).

Waste treatment data covers all waste treated on the national territory (Government controlled area of Cyprus). 

Data cover the Government controlled area of Cyprus.

Data have been produced biennially since 2004.  

Not applicable.

Significant changes in the data collection for reference year 2020

Introduction of an Electronic Waste Registry: In 2021, the Department of Environment launched an electronic waste recording platform for the reference year 2020 data from companies licensed for waste collection and treatment. The Statistical Service received accessto these reports per company. Companies are expected to enter the quantities collected and/or processed based on the waste code and the source of waste generation. However, there are many problems and errors in the reporting by companies. We have identified problems with waste codes, waste processing codes, and even quantities. In addition, tracking the source of the waste is very difficult, as most companies do not report this information. All the problems we have identified have been reported to the Department of Environment in order to be resolved in future reports.

Operation of Green Points in 2020: In 2020, green points in several areas started their operation. These green points facilitate the separate collection of several waste streams, mainly from households, e.g. green waste, bulky waste, wood, etc. in order to be redirected to waste treatment plants. This led some waste streams quantities to increase, since quantities could be reported separately.

C&D treatment plants.

Storage of waste: In 2020, 6 more units were licensed by the Department of Environment for the collection and treatment of C&D waste. There are now a total of 8 units. However, for 2020 no waste treatment was carried out in these six new treatment plants. Thus, large amounts of various waste (W075, W071, W12.1) have been collected but are currently being stored. In addition, these units were licensed to collect glass and wood. Thus, larger quantities of these waste streams were recorded from these units. These quantities of waste are recorded in NACE F, although there is no way to identify the source of the waste, as most of the waste is collected by waste collectors. Therefore, it may be a quantity derived from activities other than NACE F. So, there is an increase in waste generation for these waste streams.

Capacity of landfills for inert waste: until now the capacity of the inert waste landfills was not reported due to the lack of data. No volumetric measurements were made by the enterprises. After discussing the matter with the Department of Environment, one enterprise was able to proceed to volumetric measurements for 2020.

 Data set 1: Waste generation by waste category (EWC-STAT) and economic activities (NACE)

Data on waste generation were produced by appropriately combining the results of a sample survey with extensive data obtained from waste collectors and waste treatment plants.

Reporting units were classified by economic activity on the basis of the statistical classification of economic activities NACE Revision 2, as established by Regulation (EC) No 1893/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council. Waste types and recovery and treatment operations were classified in accordance with the Waste Statistics Regulation.

Determination of waste generation by sample survey

A specially designed questionnaire was drawn up which encompassed all requirements of the Waste Statistics Regulation. The questionnaire required respondents to report the quantities of waste generated by waste stream and the type of treatment (incl. waste collection by municipal authorities) for each waste stream. A letter was dispatched to all units sampled, laying down the scope of the survey and informing them that an interviewer will soon contact them in order to arrange for a meeting with them for the completion of the questionnaire. Note that this practice of holding personal interviews for the collection of statistical data is a long-standing tradition for the majority of business surveys in Cyprus and has proved to yield very high response rates.

Questionnaires were carefully completed by personal interview at the enterprises´ premises, under the guidance of experienced and suitably trained staff who had been specifically employed for the needs of this survey. The interviewers reported to the central office every week, handing in the completed questionnaires. Completed questionnaires were thoroughly checked and data entry, validation and consistency checks followed, using a Microsoft Access based system specially designed for the needs of the survey. The data processing was done using Microsoft Excel.

The statistical business register formed the frame for selecting the enterprises to be surveyed. The kind-of-activity unit (KAU) was the statistical unit used. The enterprises to be contacted were selected in a purposeful way on the basis of their economic activity and size class.

Determination of waste generation on the basis of information on waste treatment

For reference year 2020, data on waste generation are based both on information obtained from a dedicated survey as well as on information from waste treatment facilities. This was even more accurate for hazardous waste.

Determination of waste generation on the basis of information on waste collection

For reference year 2020, data on waste collection was mainly used for cross checking and tracking movements of waste quantities. Municipal waste collection was only used for the determination of waste generated by the waste source “households”.

Determination of waste generation on the basis of administrative sources

Household waste is not directly detectable since municipal waste contains an unidentifiable amount of waste not generated by households. Past experience has revealed that household waste constitutes around 70% of municipal waste.

Municipal waste includes household and similar waste as well as waste originating from commerce, trade, limited agricultural and similar activities, small businesses, office buildings and institutions (schools, hospitals and government buildings). It also includes bulky waste and yard waste, leaves, grass clippings, street sweepings, the contents of litter containers and market cleansing waste, if managed as waste. Municipal waste is collected door-to-door through traditional collection (mixed household waste) and fractions collected separately for recovery operations (mainly for recycling purposes, through door-to-door collection and/or through voluntary deposits). It also includes waste similar in nature and composition which (a) is collected directly from the private sector (business or private non-profit institutions), not on behalf of municipalities (mainly separate collection for recovery purposes) and (b) originates from rural areas not served by a regular waste service, even if they are disposed by the generator. It excludes waste from municipal sewage network and treatment and municipal construction and demolition waste. The inclusion of the above figures provide us with 100% coverage, since all dwellings in Cyprus have their waste amounts collected by one or the other of these two forms of waste collection.

Data for municipal waste was directly collected from waste management facilities that had the capacity of recording on a daily basis the amount and origin of the waste they were treating. In particular, these data were made available as from 2006 for the sanitary landfill site servicing the district of Pafos and from mid-2010 for the residuals sanitary landfill site servicing the districts of Larnaka and Ammochostos. In late 2017, a third waste management facility started its operations servicing the Lemesos district. It is worth noting that towards the end of 2018 the uncontrolled landfill site servicing the Lefkosia district was closed down and the district’s municipal waste is now directed to the waste treatment facility in Larnaka.

Determination of waste generated by households

As from the year 2002 and up until 2018, the Statistical Service was carrying out a bi-annual survey in order to produce data on the amounts of municipal solid waste collected, as well as their distribution by type and by origin. The survey was addressing a questionnaire to all municipal authorities in the country, which are responsible for the collection and treatment of the municipal waste generated. As already outlined, this amount included waste collected from households, as well as waste collected from businesses (agricultural, industrial, commercial and other services activities). In 2018 only municipalities in the Lefkosia district were covered in this manner. The information on municipal waste generated in all other districts was obtained directly from the waste treatment facilities.

In addition, the sample survey carried out in order to produce the data required by the Waste Statistics Regulation requests respondents to report the quantities of waste generated by waste stream and the type of treatment (incl. waste collection by municipal authorities) for each waste stream. Hence, the quantity of waste generated by businesses and collected by the municipal authorities can be determined.

Combining the two surveys and the administrative data obtained from the waste treatment plants, we can subtract the amount of waste generated by businesses and collected by the municipal authorities from the total amount of municipal waste collected by the municipal authorities in order to arrive to an estimate for the quantity of household waste.

Data sets 2 and 3: Waste treatment

The most important change in the treatment of waste for 2020 concerns the energy recovery data. The cement factory burned in its kilns various materials of ‘alternative fuels’ such as dried mud, bone flour, wood, tires, RDF etc. All these quantities were reported with great accuracy. However, from the beginning of 2020, all these different wastes are delivered to a waste management company, whose mission is to process them and produce only one type of waste, code EWC 19 12 12, which will be used by the cement plant for energy recovery purposes. Waste imports are excluded from this process. Waste imports for energy recovery are reported and treated separately.

General description of the methodology used

Cyprus has still some work to do in order to implement fully what is foreseen in national legislation, which requires that all treatment facilities for incineration, recovery or disposal purposes obtain an appropriate licence from the competent authorities. The registers kept have proved to be deficient since the provisions of the legislation are not properly implemented. Therefore, the Statistical Service continues to collect data directly from the enterprises in order to cross check the quality of the data.

Nevertheless, over the last years a considerable improvement in data availability on waste treatment from administrative sources has been observed which has greatly facilitated the production of statistics. Detailed administrative records were made available from treatment facilities, at least for particular waste streams. However, despite this big step forward, deficiencies were discovered that required thorough investigation on our side and consultation, both with the Department of Environment and the treatment facilities themselves. These deficiencies are expected to diminish with time.

The survey, that served as a tool for determining waste generation in businesses and the type of treatment for each waste stream (data sets 1 and 2) also required respondents to report whether they operate any treatment facility themselves, if they own a licence for the treatment of waste, the capacity of this facility and the amount of waste they collect for treatment (data set 3). This information was then used in order to double check and verify the information obtained from the Department of Environment, which would indicate which enterprises are actually licensed for treating waste, as well as to validate the information obtained from sources such as statistics on exports, the Basel Convention etc. Note that the data reported in data set 3 captures only those facilities that have a valid licence for the treatment of waste, as required by the Waste Statistics Regulation.

Cyprus, like other small Member States, has limited recycling capacities. Hence, recycling enterprises (NACE Rev. 2 division 38), depending on the material, do not actually proceed to recycle themselves but, instead, after pre-treatment of the recyclable materials, export these quantities in a compressed or shredded form. This kind of treatment refers to materials like paper, plastic and metal, whose treatment could not be regarded as a preparatory operation, but rather as reprocessing, in the sense that waste is prepared for subsequent use. Up until the 2014 data collection, Cyprus considered reprocessing as part of the operations that should be recorded and thus the statistics covered the amounts exported for recycling. As of 2016, Cyprus adopted Eurostat’s recommendation that all exports should be excluded. However, there exist also considerably large imports of waste, mainly for energy recovery in a co-incineration plant of an enterprise producing cement.

Identification of relevant treatment facilities

In order to identify the enterprises that operate treatment facilities, we used not only what was reported in the survey carried out by the Statistical Service, but also the register kept by the Department of Environment, which lists all enterprises that are licensed to treat waste. In addition, the register of all landfill sites  was utilised. Over the years, of course, the Statistical Service has also developed its own list of treatment facilities.

  Registers used for identification of waste treatment operations

   Data collection on treated quantities

The required information on the quantities of waste treated was obtained by means of the survey carried out by the Statistical Service. Almost all treatment/pre-treatment plants in Cyprus were covered. Respondents were required to report the quantities treated per waste stream and the type of treatment in accordance with the recovery and disposal codes specified in the Annexes to Directive 75/442/EEC.

Data collection on capacity of treatment facilities

In Cyprus, three landfill sites were operating in 2020. The largest one services the districts of Lefkosia, Larnaka and Ammochostos, the second one the district of Lemesos and the third one the Pafos district. The uncontrolled landfill site previously servicing the Lefkosia district was closed down at the end of 2018.

The reported value of 1.543.635 m3 in data set 3 refers to the remaining capacity of the three landfill sites that comply with the Landfill Directive and the capacity of one inert landfill.

The reported capacity of 185.652,3 tonnes/year in data set 3 is the total waste that was energetically recovered in the reference year for the single facility (co-incineration plant) treating waste for energy recovery purposes (R1).

The Statistical Service of Cyprus is the sole institution responsible for the collection and production of statistical data in accordance to the Waste Statistics Regulation.

 As far as overall waste management policy is concerned, responsibilities lie with the Department of Environment of the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment. These include the implementation of the legislation regarding the licensing for the treatment of packaging and hazardous waste and for the reporting of data on packaging and packaging waste, waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) and waste oils, the Landfill Directive, municipal waste, and non-hazardous construction and demolition waste. In addition, the Department of Electrical and Mechanical Services of the Ministry of Transport, Communications, and Works is the competent authority for the reporting of data on end-of-life vehicles (ELVs).

 For the 2020 data collection, a survey was carried out for a random sample of enterprises in NACE sectors B-E. For the services sectors a small targeted sample was selected and furthermore information from collective systems and waste treatment facilities were used. For NACE A, estimations are made using animal and crop production data to indirectly calculate waste quantities and data from other sources, such as treatment plants. For NACE F, information from collective systems and waste treatment facilities for construction and demolition waste were used. Specially designed questionnaires were completed, under the guidance of specifically employed and trained interviewers. The information derived from the survey was supplemented with administrative information which was for the first time made available to the Statistical Service in a more detailed form.

 Enterprises were also asked on whether they operated any treatment facility themselves. Even though national legislation demands for authorization of enterprises that process waste, it cannot be argued that this is universally applied. Since the Waste Statistics Regulation refers only to enterprises that are authorized to regenerate different substances, the Department of Environment was asked to provide us with a full list of the facilities that actually owned a licence for the treatment of waste, in order to cross-check our results regarding treatment facilities. It emerged, however, that for various reasons the Department of Environment had not updated the licences for several facilities but nevertheless the latter continued to operate.

Waste generated by households was calculated using data from municipalities and from the waste treatment plants. The.e term “municipal waste” refers to waste from households and other similar wastes collected by municipalities from industries, offices, shops, restaurants etc. 

 Finally, the Department of Environment was consulted on the number of disposal sites in operation.

Data are collected biennially by the Statistical Service of Cyprus. Data for municipal waste is collected annually.

See the information in point 3.

Extensive validation was performed on the data, which included comparisons over time, the shares of waste generation by economic activity, the share of hazardous waste to the total amounts generated, treatment operations by waste category, etc. Implausible combinations of waste categories and treatment operations were also checked. These validation checks have resulted in improvements of the final data released. However, some fluctuations over the years are unavoidable, firstly due to the structure of the economy and the existence of very few large enterprises that may lead to outliers, secondly due to one-off projects and finally due to the possibility of wrong classification of waste streams by the reporting enterprises.

Data were cross-checked with other sources such as exports and imports of waste from the international trade in goods statistics, exports and imports and waste generated that are reported under the Basel Convention Reporting. Moreover, using reports from the Electronic Waste Registry we tried to track the movements of waste as much as possible.

See the information in point 3.

Adjustments are made for the breakdown by economic activity of the total number of vehicles discarded. Their breakdown by economic activity is mostly based on estimations. The allocation by activity is based on information relating to fuel consumption, insurance costs, etc. as an indication of the share of vehicles in each industry.

Statistics are produced in accordance with the provisions of the European Statistics Code of Practice and in line with the principles governing its implementation.

The quality of statistics is assessed according to five quality criteria: relevance, accuracy, timeliness and punctuality, accessibility and clarity, coherence and comparability. CYSTAT endorses the Quality Declaration of the European Statistical System. In addition, CYSTAT is guided by the requirements provided for in Article 11 of the Official Statistics Law of 2021 as well as Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics, which sets out the quality criteria to be applied in the development, production and dissemination of European statistics.

In a country like Cyprus, where natural resources are scarce and pressures and strains are intense on the country’s natural fabric, environment is a subject of great concern and interest. The response, in the form of environmental protection measures, has been substantial in the last few decades. In assessing the state of the environment and formulating, managing and monitoring the outcome of these policy measures, statistics has a vital role to play by providing relevant, reliable, timely and comparative quantitative information to support these tasks. Waste statistics, as a component of environment statistics, concerns not only politicians, but the ordinary citizen as well.

(a) Government Agencies – Local level

The Department of Environment of the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment is the main competent authority handling waste management policies, as laid down by EU legislation and adopted by the national one. In this framework, waste statistics prove useful to these agencies in formulating, managing and monitoring the outcome of policy measures on the country’s waste management system.

(b) Politicians – Local level

Cyprus has adopted a number of legal acts that were set out in recent years by the European Union. However, the proper implementation of the relevant legislation is somewhat lacking and this is reflected in the statistics produced. In other words, even though the proper legislation is in place, the required means in order for this legislation to be implemented are very often insufficient. Waste statistics can highlight the gap between the wishful and the actual figures, providing an incentive for further development of the whole waste management system. Furthermore, waste statistics could provide the means for politicians to promote social awareness regarding the different environmental issues.

(c) European Union – Regional level

According to the Europe 2020 Strategy, the European Union has set the goal of becoming a smarter, knowledge based, greener economy, growing fast and sustainably, creating high levels of employment and social progress. In this framework, waste statistics are part of the indicators chosen by the European Union to regularly assess the progress achieved in implementing its policies. The recycling rate of selected materials and the generation of hazardous waste are some of these indicators. Furthermore, waste statistics can be used as a tool towards establishing cohesion, harmonization and comparability among the Member States. In that way, not only politicians, but the EU citizens as well, will be able to draw important conclusions regarding the state of the environment in each Member State.

(d) Citizens from the Member States – Regional level

The usefulness of waste statistics can go beyond their political importance. Waste generation and treatment can serve as a measure of welfare, social conditions, consumer habits etc. The amounts of waste generated serve as an index of industrial production, whereas, the waste treatment can be an index of both the government’s and the citizen’s social responsibility.

Not applicable.

The transmitted data sets are fully completed and include no missing values.

100%-The transmitted data sets are fully completed and include no missing values. 

Cyprus has still some work to do in order to implement fully what is foreseen in national legislation, which requires that all treatment facilities for incineration, recovery, or disposal purposes obtain an appropriate license from the competent authorities. The registers kept have proved to be deficient since the provisions of the legislation are not properly implemented. Therefore, the Statistical Service continues to collect data directly from the enterprises in order to cross-check the quality of the data. Over the last years, a considerable improvement in data availability on waste treatment from administrative sources has been observed which has greatly facilitated the production of statistics. Detailed administrative records were made available from treatment facilities, at least for particular waste streams. However, despite this big step forward, deficiencies were discovered that required thorough investigation on our side and consultation, both with the Department of Environment and the treatment facilities themselves. These deficiencies are expected to diminish with time.

See comments in point 6.

Coefficients of variation for the total amount of waste generated and the total amount of waste treated cannot be calculated since these aggregates no longer result exclusively from the sample survey but are to a large extent also based on administrative data.

The table “Totals and coefficients of variation for the key aggregates” does not apply to Cyprus.

See comments in points 6.3.1, 6.3.2, 6.3.3 and 6.3.4.

 As far as treatment operations are concerned, we have gathered the information for both licensed and non-licensed treatment facilities. In the case of landfill sites, only those that are still active have been accounted for.

Determination of extractive waste generation

The main mining activities in Cyprus relate to the quarrying of building stone, marble, gypsum, sand, gravel, havara, bentonite, clay, umber and other ochres (NACE Rev. 2 classes 08.11, 08.12 and 08.91). Moreover, the enterprise operating the single active copper mine in Cyprus is allocated in NACE Rev. 2 class 24.44.

 Topsoil, overburden and waste-rock are partially covered in the data. As a general practice, if the wastes are removed from the extraction site and used for backfilling then they are reported, whereas if they are used inside the extraction site they are not reported as waste. As far as the non-hazardous tailings are concerned, these are generally excluded since they are used inside the extraction site.

 The Mining Wastes Directive was transposed into national legislation in 2009. The Department of Environment, which is the competent authority for the management of waste from extractive industries, carried out a study about the status of extractive waste sites. An inventory has been prepared with all active and closed sites. According to this inventory, 31 active sites of extractive waste and 76 closed sites of extractive waste exist.

  Coverage of waste statistics with regard to extractive waste

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

The statistical unit used is the KAU. The quantities are quite precise, since most of the municipalities actually weigh the waste they collect, whereas enterprises estimate the quantities of waste they produce based on their production. Moreover, waste treatment facilities weigh the quantities received and treated. Data are reported in tonnes. Possible mistakes that could arise in transferring the data from the questionnaires to the database were handled through thorough consistency and validation checks.

Data collection in Cyprus is governed by the Official Statistics Law of 2021, which renders the provision of data to the Statistical Service mandatory for all respondents. Furthermore, it is a tradition in Cyprus for data collection to be carried out by personal interview, under the guidance of specially employed and trained interviewers, which assist the enterprises in comprehending what is required of them, so that the data obtained is as reliable as possible.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Data collection was followed by a thorough check of the questionnaires and of the detailed data reported by the waste treatment facilities regarding unexpected waste types produced, the quantities produced, the correct allocation among waste categories, the correct R/D code assignment, as well as the validity of licences owned by the treatment facilities. As a next step we proceeded to the data entry, validation and consistency checks, where once again we have checked for possible errors in the NACE classification, the entry of quantities and the R/D coding. The process of verification and the final extraction of the tables was done using Microsoft Excel. The process included recoding and some statistical checks, like the detection and handling of possible extreme values. Based on the above checks, different corrections had been made in order to ensure the robustness of the data.

No problems were encountered regarding regional codes, since we are providing data for Cyprus as a single territory. The whole country is designated as one region at the NUTS I, II and III levels.

No problems were also faced regarding misclassification of household waste, since we have a clear view of what should be included in household waste.

Not applicable. 

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

A data revision policy is in place at CYSTAT. It is published on CYSTAT’s website.

Data if necessary is revised every two years when the data for the most recent reference year are transmitted. 

Significant revisions are noted in the quality report. 

Data transmission to Eurostat was performed within the time limits set by the Waste Statistics Regulation.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Data for the reference year 2020 were transmitted via EDAMIS on the 29th of June 2022.

Data for the reference year 2020 were transmitted via EDAMIS on the 29th of June 2022 and are planned to be published in December 2022.

Data have been collected based on the methodological guidelines provided by Eurostat through the Waste Statistics Regulation, the waste statistics manual and the discussions that took place in the relevant working groups and workshops. Based on the experience of the previous surveys and in order to set the right base for future surveys and to maintain quality and comparability, a country specific methodological guidebook was produced for use by the interviewers, providing them with useful information which would assist them during the interview.

 The quality of the data reported improves with each round of survey as the reporting of certain waste streams in done on a more standardised and consistent manner and access to administrative records is enhanced.

 It is worth mentioning that for those economic activities and waste streams where significant differences can be observed between the values reported for 2020 and those reported for 2018, data have been verified and the reasons behind these differences are appropriately explained.

Not applicable.

Specific issues concerning the data collection on 2020

The following comments can be of use in better assessing and explaining developments in the quantities of waste generated and treated in Cyprus and in comparing the figures for 2020 with the corresponding ones for 2018. Note that some of the methodological improvements brought about in the data production process unavoidably may result in breaks in series.

Notable changes in waste generation

The following observations are of note by type of economic activity and waste stream:

NACE B:. The quantity on sorting materials (W103) is coming from C&D treatment plants that are classified under NACE B.

NACE 10_12: Category W12.3: The whole quantity is coming from 1 enterprise and also concerns quantities from previous years.

W08A: The increase is coming from 3 large companies and includes also stocks from previous years that were delivered in 2020.

W09.1: Much larger quantities of whey end up in biological treatment (R3) and not for animal feed like in other years. This has also led to higher quantities in category W3.3 as input to treatment plants has increased.

NACE C17_18: W012: This quantity is coming from an enterprise that was previously misclassified under the services sector.

NACE 20_22: The increase in category CHEM_B is coming from the pharmaceuticals industry and has been confirmed by the enterprises. It is most likely related to  the Covid19 situation.

NACE 24_25: In 2019, the single active copper mine in Cyprus (classified in NACE 24) stopped its operation, therefore a sharp drop is observed in category W012B in both hazardous and non-hazardous waste.

NACE C31_33: The quantity for W12B is coming from 1 enterprise and may also include quantities from previous years.

NACE E36_37_39: The increase in W12B is coming from 1 enterprise and has been confirmed.

NACE D: The large increase observed in 2020 in the discarded equipment (W8A) is due to the fact that all the conventional lamps (lighting fittings) of the road network were replaced with LEDs in 2020.

NACE F: The increase in CHEM_B is coming from 1 enterprise, conducting a specific project. It is waste from barrels(EWC Code 160709). Data has been confirmed from the treatment plant that collected the waste.

Services: This sector is showing some fluctuations in 2020. Especially NACE codes 55-56 were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Waste streams like W101 and W102 show a drop due to the underperformance of these sectors. However, categories like W121 increased since many enterprises found the opportunity to renovate their premises.

Services: Data for CHEM_B has been confirmed from the treatment plant that collected the waste. It is coming from the ship management sector and includes EWC codes 01 05 05, 12 01 14 and 16 07 08.

Households: Due to the operation of the Green Points, the quantities for specific waste streams (W074, W075, W08A, W0841, W12B) are reported for the first time.

Secondary Waste: Increased quantities of paper, plastic and metals in NACE 38 is deriving from the sorting activities. Secondary waste generated from the sorting of PMD (mixed waste collection including plastic, aluminium, tetrapak and Tinplate), which since 2020 is collected by only one company, is easier to detect based on EWC codes provided by the enterprise in EWR. Data have been confirmed with the enterprise.

Notable changes in waste treatment

Energy Recovery

The most important change in the treatment of waste concerns the energy recovery data. The cement factory burned in its kilns various materials of ‘alternative fuels’ such as dried mud, bone flour, wood, tires, RDF etc. All these quantities were reported with great accuracy. However, from the beginning of 2020, all these different wastes are delivered to a waste management company, whose mission is to process them and produce only one type of waste, code EWC 19 12 12, which will be used by the cement plant for energy recovery purposes. Waste imports are excluded from this process. Waste imports for energy recovery are reported and treated separately.

Recycling

W074-Plastic waste: For the first time recycling of plastic (nylon) is taking place in Cyprus. Thus, a quantity is reported for the first time, whereas the rest of the quantity is exported.

W091-Animal waste and vegetal waste: The increase in category W9.1 is due to the much larger quantities of whey ending up in for R3 treatment. See also explanation in generation of waste.

Backfilling: The category W126-Soils shows a sharp drop in 2020.After examining the data from the treatment plants and data from enterprises, many quantities are collected and sent to newly licensed treatment plants but currently are stored for further treatment.

From 2020, not all quantities of refrigerators will be exported as hazardous equipment. A company started collecting refrigerators that undergo pre-treatment in Cyprus and different sorting materials e.g metals are exported for final treatment.

Disposal of waste

For category W075 no quantities were reported in 2020. This is mainly due to the operation of green points in 2020 and the operation of new pre-treatment plants that collect this kind of waste. However, for all these quantities that are collected separately, no further treatment is performed and are currently being stored. Also, for the reasons explained above, a decrease in the category W092 is observed.

Imports of waste: Very large quantities of waste re imported for energy recovery and recycling (R5) in 2020.

Data are fully comparable from 2012 onwards.

The data produced maintain absolute coherence with the municipal waste data produced, since these had been used to extract household waste quantities.

 The coherence of these data sets with specific waste reporting obligations (used oils, batteries, end of life vehicles, tyres) is high.

The Statistical Service compiles data according to the provisions of the Waste Statistics Regulation biennially. 

Not applicable.

Data are coherent as the total equals the sum of the breakdowns. However, generation data is not the same as treatment data, nor the total or per waste stream category, mainly due to storage of waste and exports and imports of waste. 

Not applicable.

The results are envisaged to be disseminated nationally in October 2022 via the web site of the Statistical Service. A press release and a metadata file will accompany a set of tables in MS Excel with the key data. They are also scheduled to be published in the forthcoming edition of the statistical yearbook entitled “Statistical Abstract”, due to be released by the end of the year. Furthermore, the results have been transmitted to Eurostat accompanied with this data quality report, in accordance with the provisions of the Waste Statistics Regulation.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Microdata is confidential and cannot be accessed.

Not applicable.

Data regarding the Waste Statistics Regulation is based on the thorough implementation of the provisions of the Regulation and the guidelines being given by Eurostat, including the “Manual on waste statistics, and the discussions in the context of the Eurostat Working Group on Waste Statistics etc. We have also drawn country-specific guidelines for national use. These two elements constitute the framework under which future survey results will maintain continuity.

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Well-trained interviewers had been employed, who could fully understand definitions and classifications. They also had the knowledge in advance regarding the expected waste types that an enterprise of a specific economic activity will most likely produce. This enabled them to have very specific questions, and hence, not imposing further burden to the enterprises. Despite our great efforts though, multiple problems have been encountered, since many enterprises do not keep records regarding the information that the Regulation requests and are not aware of the European Waste Classification. This imposed a time burden to the respondents. Another problem that was encountered is that the number of business surveys has greatly increased over recent years and in a small country like Cyprus, the burden on enterprises is disproportionately high.

The treatment of confidential data is regulated by CYSTAT's internal Code of Practice for the Collection, Publication and Storage of Statistical Data and the provisions on the protection of statistical confidentiality laid down in the Official Statistics Law of 2021.

Not applicable.

No other comments.