In the ten-page letter to the Attorney General and the Auditor General of the Republic, the Mayor of Paphos complains that only in the Municipality of Paphos for the last 7 years, he found, based on his research, over-indebtedness of 206 thousand euros.
Mr. Faidonos makes clear references in his letter for super profits that are found and violations of contractual obligations of the company, which he notes is also a non-profit organization.
The Municipality of Paphos is bound since 2009 by a contract with this company due to its monopoly character, but also problematic legislation according to what Mr. Faidonos claims.
The Mayor of Paphos will submit to the Police the specific data that, based on his complaint, constitute new scandalous procedures, in order to begin their further investigation.
GreenDot first reaction
The chairman of the Board of Directors of the company, Mike Spanos, was also in RIK's studio.
Speaking to RIK, the Chairman of the Board of Green Dot, Mike Spanos, stated that the conclusions of Mr. Faidonos are arbitrary.
The expenses of GreenDot in the Municipality of Paphos every year, said Mr. Spanos, amount to 195 thousand euros. And the money that the Municipality has to pay in return, is 57.300 euros. That is, 29% of the expenses we are subject to.
Mr. Faidonos, continues Mr. Spanos, says that we sent the subcontractor to get the bins - correctly - and the Mayor stopped him because, he says, we signed with Vergas and that is a mistake.
Faidonas: Let Green Dot answer for the "tobacco"
The excuses and the reports of the representatives of the management company for the recyclable materials, have not convinced the Mayor of Paphos. This was stated today, at a press conference at the Municipal Palace of Paphos, Faidonas Faidonos, commenting on the objections of the company's representatives in their TV and radio appearances, when his complaint about over-indebtedness and other illegal methods in the Municipality of Paphos became known.
"I heard many stereotypes without substance, but nothing about my complaints about over-indebtedness", said the Mayor of Paphos. "They did not answer for the illegal charges made for the plastic, nor for the 65% charge for the non-packaging paper, nor for the non-observance of specific terms of the agreement, nor for the issue of the monopoly."
Mr. Faidonos also said that the position of the company in his complaints were general theories of the style "we put Cyprus on the recycling map", noting that he and the Municipality of Paphos are not interested in who put Cyprus on this map, but is interested in the over-indebtedness of 206 thousand euros and why these violations of the terms of the contract have been identified.
The complaint of the Mayor of Paphos
Subject: Cooperation of Paphos Municipality - Green Dot (Cyprus) Public Co. Ltd
Following an oral briefing on the above topic, I quote information with a request to be properly evaluated.
1. It is my position that the following can be substantiated in relation to this company:
(a) Illegal charges for the collection and management of packaging waste
(b) Over-liabilities for the collection and management of non-paper / cardboard packaging materials
(c) Insufficient performance of its work.
2. The Municipality of Paphos contracted with Green Dot in 2009 and the collection of the three streams of recyclable packaging was done exclusively from islands until July 2013, when the door-to-door collection began.
2.1. From October 2009 until June 2011, the System imposes a charge to the Municipality equal to 10% on the total cost of collection and management of waste PMD packaging, which is a clear violation of its operating conditions, as it is obliged to undertake all costs of collection and management of packaging waste. The charge includes 10% of the cost:
• rental of bins in which packaging waste is placed
• collection per visit
• collection per tonne
• management / sorting.
The Law on Municipalities defines as the responsibility of the municipal authority the "collection, collection, disposal and treatment of garbage", but a responsibility that is amended in the Law on Solid and Hazardous Waste of 2002 (L.215 (I) / 2002), article 2 ( this interpretation is included identically in the Waste Law of 2011, which defines the concept of household waste, ie what we called "garbage":
"Household waste" means waste from dwellings, buildings or parts of buildings where accommodation, lodging and feeding facilities are available, including organic kitchen waste which can be composted but excluding sewage waste, sewage waste and waste collected separately for recycling.
That is, the Local Government is not responsible for the collection and management of waste packaging that is collected separately and is the responsibility of the responsible economic operators, who in Cyprus have assigned this responsibility to the only licensed Collective Compliance System, that of Green Dot.
Based on the charges mentioned above, for the first period of its cooperation with Green Dot, the Municipality paid an amount of € 4.399,62, excluding VAT, for the recovery of 60 tons of PMD. That is, the total cost of recovering and managing one tonne of PMD amounted to € 440,00, an amount that is reasonably considered unreal.
For the approximately two years that the citizens of Paphos paid the illegal and excessive charges imposed by Green Dot for the PMD, more than € 28.000 were allocated, an amount that we claim will be returned to us with the legal interest.
2.2. From June 2009 until today, the System imposes a charge, initially 60% and later 65%, on the total cost of collecting and managing the flow of paper / cardboard packaging, arguing that 60% by weight of the materials it collects in it The flow is not packaging waste but paper items, such as newspapers / magazines, books, office paper, for which it is not responsible for collection and management. Legally, the System is justified to pass on these costs to the Local Government, provided that:
• are carried out at regular intervals and at least twice per season during which there are fluctuations in the production of waste packaging of this flow, sampling checks in the presence of a representative of the Local Authority to verify the percentage of non-packaging and
• the charge is at reasonable levels - for the first period of its cooperation with the System, the Municipality
put € 20.935,81 without VAT. to cover 60% of the cost of recovery and management of 157 tons of paper / cardboard. That is, the corresponding cost per ton amounted to € 222,25. Based on the latest invoice of Green Dot, for the recovery and management of 35,82 tons of paper / cardboard during last February, a charge of € 4.573 without VAT was imposed on the Municipality. for 65% of the total cost, which amounted to € 196,41 per ton.
2.3. As of January 2012, Green Dot charged 65% of the total cost:
• rental of bins in which packaging waste is placed
• collection per visit
• collection per tonne
• management / sorting.
2.4. From July 2013, with the start of the collection of waste packaging and "door to door", in addition to the rent of bins, collection and sorting per ton, the charge per inhabitant was added, ie Green Dot imposed a charge of € 1,44 per inhabitant, as a fixed collection cost, from which 65% is "loaded", as in the other charges, the Municipality. It is concluded that Green Dot imposed a "recycling hike" on the Local Government.
Data resulting from the qualitative composition of waste in the District of Paphos and which are included in the Municipal Waste Management Plan prepared by the Department of Environment in October 2015, show that the largest quantities of paper / cardboard end up in the landfill. Paphos District and that the composition of the paper / cardboard flow of the Collective System consists mostly of packaging and not of other types of paper materials. Therefore, the reverse quota from that imposed by the System was adopted, ie 60% packaging and 40% other types of paper materials. It should also be noted that this recommendation concerns the entire District of Paphos while in the Municipality, due to the significant tourism industry, the percentage of packaging in the paper / cardboard flow is proportionally increased.
In addition, it should be noted that Green Dot, while charging us € 40,00 per tonne for paper sorting (65% of this cost), trades the recovered material itself, covering a significant part of its costs. The value of the gross paper remains around € 40,00 per ton, ie without even sorting the System will be able to have this income, while with sorting the different types of paper have a much higher value (informatively, the cardboard has almost three times price).
It is worth mentioning the following in relation to the official declarations submitted by Green Dot regarding the income it derives from the marketing of the waste packaging it manages. According to the System Report for 2011, the revenues from the marketing of the collected packages amounted to € 680.567,00. According to the official results of the System, in 2011 a total of 8.165 tons of PMD and 12.180 tons of paper were collected (these quantities concern only household packaging, ie those collected by consumers and not by commercial premises). The following table shows in detail the revenues from the marketing of packaging, corresponding in quantity and quality to those traded by Green Dot to 2011:
The quota of materials from each stream was made on the basis of data of licensed, active Sorting Units with which the System cooperates, but also assumptions used by the System for the charges it imposes
in Local Government. The average export prices for each material were used in 2011 (it should be noted that high value prices for recyclable materials were presented in 2011 - current prices for the same materials are significantly lower). The difference in revenue presented is obvious and difficult to explain. Even if it is assumed that the System benefited only by a percentage of 60% of the marketing revenue of the collected packaging, its revenues should have been significantly higher than presented in the financial results of the System for 2011 (more than double).
Based on all the above mentioned regarding the overcharges imposed on us by Green Dot for the cardboard / paper electricity, the Municipality of Paphos claims the return of an amount over € 147.000, in addition to the legal interest.
3. In addition to illegal charges and overcharges to the Local Authorities of Cyprus, Green Dot is clearly ineffective and inadequate, as the vast majority of recyclable packaging ends up in either landfills or management units, forcing Municipalities and Communities to bear the high management costs.
From 2010 to 2013, according to the data included in the aforementioned Plan (which is available on the website of the Department of Environment), they came to the landfill. Paphos District (Marathon) 48.147 tons of paper / cardboard, while Green Dot managed to recover only 7.695 tons, ie 13,77%.
During the same period, they ended up in the same landfill. a total of 2.449 tonnes of TetraPak waste, while Green Dot collected just 28 tonnes. In addition, at the landfill. 5.698 tonnes of PET type plastic waste and 11.559 tonnes of LDPE type plastic packaging waste were disposed of, while for the corresponding period Green Dot collected a total of 708 tonnes of plastic packaging waste. The inadequacy and inefficiency of the System is obvious.
4. The issue of "profit and total income" of Green Dot as a "non-profit organization" is raised effortlessly, based on the official financial results of the System:
2011: € 1.026.220
2012: € 975.491
2013: € 964.595
2014: € 632.452
Reasonable questions arise:
How is this revenue utilized? Have the fees charged to the obligated economic operators that the System is mandated to serve been reduced? The charges imposed on the Local Authorities have certainly not been reduced and the efficiency and adequacy of the System has certainly not been improved.
For the purposes of further information and documentation of those listed above, the following are transmitted: (a) Tables showing the charges imposed on the Municipality by Green Dot and the company's debts to the Municipality and vice versa; (b) Arbitration decision issued on 11.2.2015 in dispute between Green Dot (claimants) and the Municipality of Engomi (as required).
Sincerely Yours
Phaedo Phaedon
Mayor of Paphos
Notification: - Attorney General of the Republic (tel. 22662310)
- Minister of the Interior (tel. 22676709)
- Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment (tel. 22780623)
- General Accountant of the Republic (tel. 22675580)
- President of the Association of Municipalities of Cyprus (tel. 22677230)
Complaints from the Mayors of Paralimni and Engomi
In his statements, the Mayor of Paralimni, Theodoros Pyrillis, blamed the company for the fact that he removed the glass recycling bins.
For his part, the Mayor of Engomi, Zacharias Kyriakou, stated that the charges were higher than the amount that was initially agreed. He added that they are now in an arbitration process, which is before the Auditor General, since Green Dot is claiming money that the Municipality does not want to give, since it was not agreed.
Source: CITIZEN