Plastic packaging

Used plastic bottles constitute a fraction of the waste generated on these islands. The comfort of preferring plastic bottled to glass bottled water is self-evident - lighter to carry and a negligible risk of breakages; but, on the other hand, the price of these items does not reflect the final cost to the environment coming after their use.

PVC from plastic bottles constitutes a small percentage of the 20 per cent non-inert waste daily dumped at Maghtab, but it is a waste that, with a small effort by everyone, together with the right infrastructural set-up coming from the central authorities, can be turned back into the original raw material.

In short, the same material can be recycled. But my perception is that the central authorities seem to be committed to eventually solving the waste problem with a grandiose, universal and centralised scheme, whereas a parallel scheme to identify areas of waste disposal for singular items, and where possible, partnering with the private sector does not seem to be on the table. In fact, the former solution might be too complex to ever start functioning.

Let me explain. Through legislative and infrastructural incentives, the government can start setting the infrastructure to tackle the logistical side of waste sorting of plastic bottles.

Taking the example of Germany, a plastic bottle there has a monetary value, similar to the case of a local soft drink glass bottle. When purchasing water in plastic bottles, the consumer pays a surcharge for the empty plastic bottle.

The surcharge is then returned to the consumer, when the same but empty plastic bottle is returned to the shop. This serves as an incentive to encourage the consumer to participate in the waste sorting scheme in the country. And, in case such a scheme is implemented locally, every shop on the island selling water in plastic bottles, would automatically become a collection point for used plastic water bottles, as is currently the case for glass bottles.

Finally, the same van or lorry that transports the filled water bottles to the shop also simply returns the same but empty bottles for recycling. The above scheme automatically creates a waste collecting infrastructure for plastic bottles, helping to solve the logistical side of the waste problem for plastic bottles.

In Malta`s case, it might not be feasible to have a recycling plant for a population the size of the island. But, regional agreements with neighbouring Sicily or North Africa can be a way of creating a recycling infrastructure in the region. And, with the above logistical infrastructure in place, the empty plastic bottles used in Malta, can be collected into one centralised plant here, compressed into the smallest volume, and then exported to a recycling plant abroad.

After all, the same plastic material from which we mould our own plastic bottles is itself imported.

Additionally, the fact that a monetary value is given to plastic packaging would be a further step towards making a balance between the cost of production of the item and the cost of the effect on the environment of the discarded plastic, which in monetary figures will be measured by the cost of recycling. And this can be another factor to tip the balance towards the use of reusable glass bottles, making glass bottled water cheaper to the consumer than plastic bottled water.

The above is but a small step in the right direction, a step that would not solve the main problem, which is the general disregard to the environment, but with many other steps like it, would eventually rid this country of the environmental mess we are in and, most important of all, would start to provide a waste sorting infrastructure to environmentally-minded consumers.