MEP Alfred Sant has expressed his satisfaction at Government’s commitment to implement initiatives aimed at boosting Malta’s performance in the waste management sector.
He made the remarks during a visit the Maghtab Environmental Complex.Dr Sant added that this sector presents two challenges which had been ignored by previous administrations.
He pointed out the the first challenge concerns the creation of a short term landfill space to accommodate present and future waste till the plants required to process it satisfactorily come on stream. “The second challenge is the organisation of household and commercial waste in a serious manner,” said the MEP.
Wasteserv had invited the Alfred Sant to visit the Maghtab Environmental Complex which encompasses the rehabilitated Maghtab landfill, the Zwejra and Ghallis operating landfills and the Malta North facility.
Chairman David Borg and CEO Tonio Montebello led Dr Sant to the operating Ghallis Engineered landfill which, he explained, “is filling up at a fast pace given the high current levels of waste generated. Malta is one of the few EU countries which is still highly dependent on landfilling as a waste disposal option.
Dr Sant said the “new” factory” that processes the arriving waste after separating it into different streams is doing extremely valuable work.
“Given another similar facility operating in parallel with it, the potential would exist to process all the waste of the island as a whole in one place, with least adverse impact on the environment,” remarked the Maltese MEP.
It was acknowledged during the discussions, ” that it is crucial for the country to invest in a waste to energy facility as part of its plans for a more holistic waste management infrastructure given Malta’s particular characteristics. The nation’s insularity brings about logistical complications and exorbitant costs to export waste.”
They said that, “moreover due to the country’s size land is a precious limited resource with a high opportunity cost that would go to waste if more space had to be dedicated to landfill which would also result in extending closer to residential areas.”
Wasteserv agreed that the nationalisation of the organic bag collection later on this year accompanied by more enforcement will serve to encourage better and more sustainable waste management practices in line with EU obligations.
Wasteserv’s Chairman gave an overview of the milestones achieved by the company over the past four years to address this situation, which included substantial investment in infrastructure, various educational drives and the implementation of the organic bag pilot project across 23 localities.
The Malta North Facility, Wasteserv’s latest addition to its infrastructure, enables the company to intensify its drive to divert waste from being landfilled,particularly biodegradable waste in line with the EU directives.
CEO Montebello remarked that this process enhances the recovery of dry recyclable materials contributing to Malta’s ongoing efforts towards achieving the EU recycling targets.
WASTESERV falls under the responsibility of the Ministry for the Environmental, Sustainable Development and Climate Change.