The Grassroots Youth Championships, the largest event organized by the Cyprus Football Association (CFA), are gaining a very strong partner for the new season, with the shared goal of educating children and raising their awareness about the environment.
This partner is A.F.I.S., an organization whose mission is to manage and recycle expired and unusable batteries.
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
AFIS was founded in 2007 on the initiative of KEVE and took on the environmentally sound management of batteries—that is, their recycling.
The KOP and AFIS will greatly contribute to educating and raising awareness among children participating in KOP youth leagues, as well as their parents, about the benefits of battery recycling, and will enhance soccer’s positive impact on our environment.
The Grassroots Youth Leagues will begin on October 31, with 1,100 teams participating—comprising more than 10,000 children, boys and girls aged 6 to 15.
The matches will be held every Saturday at 55 sports venues in Nicosia, Limassol, Larnaca, Famagusta, and Paphos.
Through the Grassroots tournaments, children experience the joy of soccer, free from stress and pressure, since for several years now, the youth leagues have been held without recording results or standings.
The goal is for children to fall in love with soccer, learn to play by the rules, socialize, and stay active within a healthy and safe athletic environment.
The dynamism and popularity of the Grassroots leagues were the key factors that led AFIS and the Cyprus Football Association (CFA) to collaborate; through this partnership, the benefits for both organizations—but above all, the benefits for our community—will be immense!
The Mission of AFIS
Batteries are considered hazardous waste because they contain heavy metals such as cadmium, mercury, and lead, which can have very serious consequences for the environment, animals, and humans.
After the batteries are collected by AFIS, they are transported to a licensed facility in Cyprus where they are sorted and temporarily stored; and once a sufficient number has been collected, they are exported to a licensed facility in Greece, where they are recycled to recover valuable components.
Today, there are over 6,000 collection bins located in high-traffic areas such as supermarkets, malls, kiosks, bakeries, schools, and even medical centers. This way, residents do not need to change their daily routine to recycle their batteries.
*Pictured: Andreas Morias, General Manager of KOP, and Marios Vrachimis, General Manager of AFIS.
