Aglandjia, Cyprus. Residents in Aglandjia said they saw a Nicosia municipality crew collect household waste and recyclables into the same lorry last week, raising questions about recycling practices and municipal waste handling.
Mixed waste collection
Residents told the Cyprus Mail that the lorry was fitted with a mechanical gripper that picked up different types of rubbish indiscriminately. They said the crew also left plastic bottles behind, which later rolled into a busy street.
Criticism from residents
Some residents described the work as sloppy and questioned why they should continue recycling if the municipality did not appear to care. One resident said they doubted the rubbish would be sorted later, while another questioned the ethics of charging €100 for a bundle of purple bags.
Municipality response and earlier complaints
Residents said the accompanying van bore the Nicosia municipality logo. The municipality was contacted for comment.
Last year, Aglandjia residents complained to the Cyprus Mail about being required to pay €100 to collect a set number of prepaid mauve bags from municipal offices rather than buying them from supermarkets as a way of pre-paying rubbish collection dues.
The municipality said at the time that the tariff covered not only the bags but also other cleanliness services, including cleaning pavements and roads.