By Bejay Browne.
Paphos hoteliers and concerned stakeholders in the district are complaining about the high costs of disposing 40,000 tonnes of seaweed that has to be collected annually from the area’s beaches each year, according to the Cyprus News Agency.
Thousands of euros are spent each year to ready the area for the summer season every year.
Thanos Michaelides, president of the Paphos Hoteliers Association told CNA that the beaches should be cleaned more often, and also during winter.
Michalis Pavlides, the mayor of Geroskipou, noted that seaweed cleaning is the responsibility of local authorities and that it costs Geroskipou municipality around €50,000 annually.
According to Pavlides, the seaweed is taken to landfills and due to the large quantities, it costs around €100,000 to compress it. He added that the mayor of Paphos will make the environmental department aware of the situation.
In 2018, Paphos and Geroskipou cleared around 400 trucks of seaweed from beaches last year.
