A question and answer session with Founder and CEO of City Friends Club, Anna Gubareva
What specific projects and initiatives does City Friends Club plan to implement in Larnaca and Paphos beyond cleanups?
We aim to launch our first initiatives that promote conscious consumption and waste reduction. One such project is the Coffee Friends Club, which encourages environmentally responsible behavior.
Recently, we completed a pilot project Graffiti Friends Club in Limassol. This initiative involved creating 10 unique graffiti artworks on transformer boxes with local artists, achieving several important goals:
- Enhancing the city’s character. The decorated transformer boxes add color and a modern vibe to the urban landscape.
- Promoting street culture. We demonstrate to young people the difference between vandalism and art, encouraging them to see graffiti as a way to create rather than destroy.
- Reducing vandalism. Artworks by professional street artists are respected within the art community and usually remain untouched.
The project was a great success, and we plan to expand it to other cities with the support of the Electricity Authority of Cyprus, as it has proven to benefit urban spaces.
We are also developing a mobile app to simplify and automate participation in our initiatives. In the future, we hope the app will run independently across cities, requiring minimal resources from our organisation.
Our primary aim is to launch daily street cleaning, carried out by professional teams. We plan to start with small teams of three people and gradually scale up to create a clean and welcoming urban environment.
How do Larnaca Municipality and City Friends Club plan to engage local residents in volunteer cleanups?
The Larnaca Municipality has been very supportive, providing key resources such as a car, a driver and parking space, which has allowed us to launch successfully. They also help promote our project through information campaigns.
This support is invaluable, as it helps us involve local residents in our activities. While many Cypriots are already participating, we hope this collaboration will help us attract even more volunteers.
How do you plan to work with Paphos residents? Will Lumio School have additional roles in CFC’s work in Paphos beyond sponsorship?
In Paphos, we have initiated regular monthly cleanups. Previously, these were coordinated from Limassol, which made it harder. Now we’re ready to expand, adding corporate cleanups to our activities. We’ve hired our first local staff member in Paphos and got a car, which makes managing projects on-site much easier.
The school is a key partner in our initiatives. Along with providing financial support, they fully align with our values and actively contribute to educating the younger generation. As a core partner, we are creating a customised sponsorship package that includes events and activities designed to match the school’s interests and needs. This helps strengthen our collaboration and ensures the most effective implementation of our shared goals.
How does City Friends Club plan to measure the success of its environmental initiatives and cleanups in Larnaca and Paphos?
One of our key indicators is the number of people participating in cleanups and other events. More participants mean stronger community engagement and greater awareness of environmental issues. Another important metric is the amount of waste collected and removed, providing a clear measure of the cleanup efforts impact.
We also value social feedback: how residents and tourists respond to our initiatives through social media posts, participation requests, or an increase in volunteer numbers.
We hope these efforts will lead to a noticeable reduction in waste, reflecting the development of a culture of cleanliness among both residents and visitors.
Additionally, we can’t overlook another important indicator – the growth in the number of partners, sponsors and organisations willing to support or collaborate with us.
What do you see as the key environmental problems in Larnaca and Paphos?
I won’t list all the environmental problems faced by cities in Cyprus but will focus on those we are addressing. Larnaca and Paphos share the same challenges as other cities on the island.
These are popular tourist destinations, and in recent years, Cyprus has experienced a significant influx of new residents. While Cyprus strives to adapt as a hospitable country, not all sectors are keeping up with the increased demand. One of the main problems is the inefficient waste management system, which is unable to keep up with the new reality.
The growing number of tourists and residents has worsened the waste problem, particularly in popular recreational areas. Tourists and locals often leave trash in public spaces, on beaches and along roads, which not only spoils the appearance of the cities but also harms the ecosystem.
To tackle this issue, all cities in Cyprus need stricter cleanliness controls, the installation of additional waste collection infrastructure (such as bins and containers) and efforts to foster a culture of responsible waste disposal among residents and visitors.
