Tyre burning facility would be a ‘burden’ says Laona foundation

The Laona foundation said on Friday it was completely opposed to a tyre burning facility in Ypsonas, or anywhere else in the country, citing a negative footprint on the energy front.

It argued the plant would produce enough energy for its own needs and nothing more.

“The production of ‘renewable’ energy that will enrich and diversify Cyprus’ energy sector probably looks like a myth since it will not offer a single kilowatt-hour to the country’s electricity system.”

The foundation, which focuses on the conservation and regeneration of the Cypriot countryside, went on to say the only way the tyre burning factory could be sustainable would be if it imported large quantities of foreign waste in Cyprus.

However, this would go against the European Union’s principle of proximity, which specifies waste should be managed as near as possible to its place of production to keep the environmental impact at a minimum.

“Consider the environmental burden of transporting 80,000 tons of tyres from the country of production, by train, or trucks to a port, from there by ship to Cyprus and with trucks in Ypsonas.”

Laona foundation suggested that if energy production sources from tyre burning facilities were that good, created jobs and were beneficial to the environment “then why are they not everywhere in countries producing hundreds of thousands of plastic waste?”

“Are Europeans stupid? They refuse renewable energy sources, drive away money, drive away jobs, just to enrich Cyprus with their tyres?”

The foundation said Cyprus really needed to question what it stands to gain from a tyre burning facility in Limassol, especially in such close proximity to the Kourris damn, schools, homes and the city’s general hospital.

“We have to think of what we have to gain from this.”