Green MT has recently held its 4th consecutive Council Awards, which are are a recognition to those Local Councils who have achieved collection targets within their localities in respect of recyclable waste.
Three awards were given to the Local Councils of Nadur Gozo, Cospicua and Rabat Malta for reducing mixed waste going to landfill in 2013.
The award for Best Recycling Business for the year went to General Soft Drinks co Ltd whilst the Lifetime Achievement Award dedicated to an individual who has contributed greatly towards not only increasing recycling in the locality but also for making an overall contribution to the environmental upkeep of the locality.
This award went to Mr John Boxall Mayor of Vittoriosa. St Paul’s Bay Local Council was awarded the Council Initiative for Recycling because it was instrumental in setting up an event to make the public aware that more glass needed to be collected to be recycled instead of going to landfill.
The award for the best overall recycling collection went to the local council of Ta’ Xbiex who collected 79 kilos per capita in 2013. They were closely followed by the local council of Mellieha in second place and the local council of St Julians in third place.
During the event Mr Paul Abela President of GRTU and Chairman of Green MT outlined to those present that the GRTU Malta Chamber of SMEs had effectively been the only constituted body that took up the eventual responsibility of setting up a company to handle the environmental obligations of SMEs.
Despite all of the difficulties, Mr Abela informed those present that GRTU deems this to be an outstanding achievement. He further insisted that the time is now ripe for the Government to rid producers of ECO contribution legislation.
The event was also addressed by Dr Stefan Bountempo who is responsible for Local Government. He thanked Green MT for such an event and ordered that local councils continue to instigate their residents to continue to take part in this silent revolution – that of making sure their individual local councils become increasingly environmentally friendly.
Dr Bountempo continued to insist that together with the Ministry for Sustainable Development, Environment and Climate Change, his Secretariat has gone through detailed discussions to further waste separation at source, including the introduction shortly of a food waste bag.
The keynote speaker of the event was the Honourable Minister Leo Brincat, Minister for Sustainable Development, Environment and Climate Change. Minister Brincat thanked all those present and outlined that governments` promise to rid the business community of ECO contribution which is currently stalling the implementation of the WEEE Directive.
Minister Brincat further stated that a consultation document issued early in July by the European Commission has outlined more onerous targets to be met by producers in member states in relation to a number of waste stream directives.
He said that Malta was no exception to the rule and, for the benefit of future generations, Malta had to do its best to meet these targets.
He stated that the Government was in favour of pilot projects in respect to changes in the waste management sector as the ‘one size fits all’ is not acceptable to all local councils. At the end of the event Minister Brincat, Dr Stephan Bountempo and Mr Paul Abela Chairman of Green MT presented the awards to the winners.