With the support of the European Commission, EU-funded Capacity Building to the Water/Wastewater and Solid Waste Sectors Project and the EU Infopoint organised a 1 day forum on 20 April at Manolya Hotel Lapithos, in partnership with the Chamber of Environmental Engineers, Cyprus Turkish Chamber of Industry, and the Union of Municipalities, drew together leading waste management experts to look at the means and methods for diverting increasing amounts of organic, garden and green waste from landfill. The speakers at the forum presented practical approaches to green waste management in the EU, operating models for successful green waste composting projects, provided information about green waste composting, constraints and opportunities and spoke about green waste recycling and composting Implementations. 

Each year, approximately 40,000 tonnes of garden waste finds its way to the Güngör/Koutsoventis landfill. When left to rot, this waste produces methane, a greenhouse gas over 20 times more harmful than carbon dioxide and denies farmers and household gardeners the opportunity to benefit from a low-cost, nutrient rich soil improver that this waste might otherwise have provided. 

Turning waste into a resource is one key to a circular economy. The objectives and targets set in European legislation have been key drivers to improve waste management, stimulate innovation in recycling, limit the use of landfilling, and create incentives to change consumer behaviour. If we re-manufacture, reuse and recycle, and if one industry's waste becomes another's raw material, we can move to a more circular economy where waste is eliminated and resources are used in an efficient and sustainable way.