VOROKLINI BERATES LITTER BUGS AFTER PILES OF TRASH LEFT ON BEACHES

 Cyprus Mail 19 August 2020 - by Staff Reporter

Voroklini community leader Neophytos Fakontis has castigated selfish beach-goers who left piles of trash behind them over the busy August 15 holiday break.

He told the Cyprus News Agency that the Voroklini-Pyla area had welcomed a larger number of visitors the past few weeks as Cypriots opt to spend their holiday on the island rather than travel abroad because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The August 15 holiday weekend was particularly busy after a fault with a sewage pipe in the Makenzie area prompted even Larnaca residents to head there, he added. The pipe has been repaired and the beach reopened, with Larnaca Municipality assuring on Wednesday that repeated tests have shown the water is clean.

“Because of the thousands of visitors we had over the August 15 holiday and because unfortunately in 2020 a lot of people in Cyprus lack environmental awareness, we had ugly scenes of rubbish outside the green bins and in piles where they spent the day at the beach,” he told CNA.

Voroklini community council has 15 large green wheelie bins and 45 rubbish bins of 120 litres along the 3.5 km beach. However, even though there are many locations to dispose of rubbish, a lot of people have the bad habit of just leaving them and walking away.

“The amount of rubbish collected from the beaches of the area every day is a lot compared to the number of visitors. People should respect the environment, become environmentally aware and stop dumping rubbish, glass, plastic bottles or even babies’ nappies,” he said.

The community council has two employees collect the trash from the beach on Monday and Friday while on other days, one person collects the rubbish from the beach. At the Blue Flag beach and that near Chryso Psari there is a worker clearing the area from 5.30 am till late in the afternoon.

Although lighting fires is prohibited on the beach, some people not only have campfires, but then bury embers in the sand while they are still hot, posing a threat to unsuspecting swimmers walking on the beach.

And while everyone knew beach parties are prohibited, this year has seen a spike in the number.