With more visitors heading to Cyprus than ever, the Mediterranean island’s waste disposal system is under pressure, despite efforts to cut landfill use and encourage recycling, waste management and tourism, experts say.
Michael said his hotel had cut landfill output per guest by half since it introduced waste separation in 2003.
"It’s a very good idea because rubbish is one of the global problems and it is solved in Ayia Napa."
Cyprus has much improved its waste management since 2005, when Green Dot was founded in response to a new European Union law demanding better sorting and recycling, he said.
"There was no sorting on the island. There was no sorting culture at all."
He was speaking at one of two Green Dot sorting warehouses in Cyprus.
Around 15 workers stood at the belt, sorting plastic bottles and drinks cans and cardboard scraps into separate bins.
Parpounas said more efforts were needed if the country was to meet the EU target of recycling half of its municipal waste by 2020.
Philippos Drousiotis, of the Cyprus Sustainable Tourism Initiative, said both hotels and guests had welcomed efforts such as cutting use of plastic bottles.