.
There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that the volunteer-based efforts to replant the Solea forest has so far been a success, with the nearly 300,000 euros raised since last August well spent on buying saplings, hiring unemployed people and investing in some basic equipment.
But it is not enough just to organise group outings to plant a tree and seem to be caring for the environment (as evidenced from the hundreds of thousands of selfies of neo-environmentalists holding spades).
Unfortunately, Cyprus still ranks at the bottom of the European list when it comes to waste disposal, with the campaign to “recycle, reduce, reuse” hardly making an impact on our daily lives.
It has taken a decade for ordinary folk to understand that they have to cut back on their household rubbish and think hard about what they throw away.
The recent example of volunteers having to collect the thousands of cans and plastic bottles thrown away after the annual Limassol carnival parade is a case in point, proving that the thousands wasted on media campaigns and other information streams have had absolutely no effect on Joe Public.
That means that the GreenDot public monopoly ought to shift gear and look at the next steps it has to take to instill a sense of responsibility among municipalities and citizens. Instead of bickering over sharing costs and other resources, investments should be made to offer households more bins to separate their waste with more frequent collections. Municipalities are not prepared to spend any more money, as, judging from the poor condition of roads and pavements in many towns, they must be cash-strapped.
However, this is an investment that has to be made and taken seriously, as the image of a clean environment or clean neighbourhood is what is projected via social media.
The 12 points of the UN’s sustainable development goals should concern us all, not just big employers and industrialists. Caring for the environment will simply make this a better place for the next generations. Doing something now will simply make it less costly to clean and fix later on.
