Policies for landfills

Waste creates very serious environmental consequences, namely contamination. These problems can be mitigated by good planning and sane policies for landfills. Nevertheless, Government persists in pursuing misguided policies on landfills which will leave long-term negative impacts on our environment.

The real intentions of Dr Francis Zammit Dimech`s ministry remain opaque, but it is clear that Government is not conversant with EU policies for landfills or any standard regulations used in the developed world. The proof of incompetence comes from the following policy statements and declarations made by Dr Zammit Dimech in the past few months:

1. During a recent press conference at his ministry`s new press room, Dr Zammit Dimech affirmed that Maghtab should be called a "dump" and not a landfill (although EU Directives and US Federal regulations would define Maghtab as a landfill).

With this, Dr Zammit Dimech confirmed that the policies pursued by his ministry for Maghtab in the past decade or so were mistaken. These wrong policies encouraged the mixing of so-called "inert" waste (construction and demolition waste) with non-hazardous and hazardous waste. The former is much more voluminous, so it was presumed that it would simply "smother" up the more dangerous waste.

It is a fact that the mixing of hazardous with non-hazardous waste is considered unacceptable in both the US and the EU. It is shocking that it took so long for Dr Zammit Dimech to finally admit his mistaken policies. This proves that Maghtab did not come about by coincidence but by incompetence and elusive policies that allowed the landfill problem to swell to the present uncontrollable proportions.

2. It is sometimes unavoidable to make mistakes, provided that you learn not to repeat them. However, Dr Zammit Dimech persists in blundering even when advised by consultants who cost the taxpayer more than half a million liri each year. He makes this incompetent statement on "solutions" for Maghtab ("The zero option", The Sunday Times, April 14): "is it a question of capping these dumps with geotextiles, taking the toxic material out... or is it a question of dismantling them at least in part and using inert material for other projects?" The minister is wrong when he says that:

i. The capping procedure does not mean covering Maghtab with geotextiles, which are a highly permeable material (more like a sieve) through which most contaminants and water can pass through!

ii. "Dismantling" the landfills and using the waste for "other projects" is not the procedure advocated for closure of landfills in the EU and the US. It is a dangerous concept that will lead to the spread of contamination all over the island.

3. Dr Zammit Dimech has announced that a new hazardous waste landfill will be opened. However, the ministry and the Planning Authority have already blundered in the selection of the new landfill site, which was done in a risible and amateurish manner.

The six sites that were considered are in fact all unsuitable for landfilling because of their known poor hydrogeological characteristics. It is politically dishonest for Dr Zammit Dimech to state that no contaminants will leak from the new landfill, when in reality nearly all landfills in the world are known to leak.

The unwise selection of any of these six sites will undermine the success of the new landfill because the natural characteristics of the rock will not contain the hazardous liquids that will escape (into the ground water), even if the costliest containment system is used.

4. Government`s inability to build a safe landfill is confirmed by its decision to locate the new landfills in localities which are known to be already significantly contaminated areas, namely l-Ghallis ta` Gewwa, next to Maghtab, and Birzebbuga. This decision also proves that Government and the PA believe that these areas deserve to remain perpetually contaminated, a notion considered unacceptable in all countries.

5. Dr Zammit Dimech tells us that the new proposed landfill site will be assessed by an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process. This is an unorthodox approach when compared to requirements in EU and US legislation for the opening of new landfills which consider as mandatory a geological and hydrogeological report on the site to be landfilled (if required, also an EIA). Perhaps Dr Zammit Dimech insists on an EIA because he knows that the PA has a "method" of selecting only EIA consultants to its liking.

6. Malta produces nearly one million tonnes of construction and demolition waste annually which Dr Zammit Dimech categorises as being all inert waste. The EU makes it clear the construction and demolition waste is not just inert waste, but may include hazardous waste, which is dangerous to the environment. Despite this, Dr Zammit Dimech persists in the mistaken policy of dumping this waste in disused quarries without any containment safeguards and in violation of the EU Directive on landfills.

All these mistaken policies reflect a very short-term approach to the waste problem, which is embodied in the minister`s "waste project" costing a hefty Lm120 million! The Labour government was aware of the Maghtab problem, so had it commissioned and published a report by the University of Bari (1998) which proposes a long-term technical solution. This solution costs only a fraction of the minister`s appropriately called "waste project". Dr Zammit Dimech chose to ignore the Bari report and persist in his proverbial incompetence.

The PN`s incoherent waste policies will push this country further to the brink of an environmental catastrophe which will see our land, soil, water and air heavily contaminated. This damage will then have to be remedied at a very high price by our children and future generations.