Presidential Palace to become ‘Zero Waste to Landfill’ site

First Lady Philippa Karsera Christodoulides and Environment Commissioner Maria Panayiotou, presented on Monday their common initiative to convert the Presidential Palace into a Zero Waste to Landfill building.

The initiative falls within the framework of the World Earth Day that was celebrated on April 22.

Presenting the initiative at the outdoors area of the Presidential Palace, the First Lady said that the goal of the project is to implement new standards in order to drastically reduce the final production of waste.

In this way, she continued, we contribute not only in changing attitudes, but also in achieving the ambitious but necessary goals set by the European Commission through the European Green Deal and the Fit-For-55 legislative package, which Cyprus must implement.

Noting that the zero-waste philosophy is becoming a necessity, she said that the beginning can be done very easily from home and the workplace.

“We begin from the presidential palace which should be the mirror and the good image of modern Cypriot culture in all its aspects”, she concluded.

In her speech, the Commissioner said that turning the Presidential Palace into a Zero Waste to Landfill building means that all waste has been rationally managed with 100 per cent verification that they did not end up in landfills, but rather, they were reused or recycled.

Through this initiative, she said, the presidential palace contributes to the conservation of resources and the reduction of its carbon footprint while becoming a practical example of upgrading and protecting the environment in our country.

She explained that the presidential palace is not only the building but also the park of approximately 15 hectares that surrounds the Palace. The park, she said, in addition to the forest recreation services it offers to visitors, has in recent years acquired an important environmental and ecological role, since it is home to several species of the fauna of our country.