AD deplores choice of landfill sites

It was intolerable of the government to suggest the setting up of landfills, even temporary ones, in areas such as the vicinity of Mnajdra temples, Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Harry Vassallo said.

Addressing a news conference yesterday, he said that although these quarries were only intended to be used as landfills for two years, they would remain there once the two years were over.

The quarries, he said, could have been used as heritage parks which would not have left a visual impact on the temples. This would now be impossible.

Dr Vassallo hoped that a serious Environment Impact Assessment would be held.

The waste issue was a national problem and it should not remain the responsibility of one minister. The whole Cabinet should shoulder responsibility, especially the Prime Minister, who headed a commission on sustainable waste, which had not met for the past six months.

On the more permanent quarry at L-Ghallis ta' Gewwa, Dr Vassallo said this was at least being proposed in an already spoilt environment.

But using the minister's calculations, if the new landfill would be used up in 20 years, Malta would be one big landfill in 200 years.

Construction waste could also not continue to be dumped in quarries as these would soon be filled up.

Malta, Dr Vassallo said, was not considering other possible technical options and the way the country was heading would surely lead to incineration in the near future.

What was missing and what should have been included in the strategy was a strong public education campaign on the subject. This had not yet started.

Dr Vassallo also pointed out that an engineered landfill did not make sense without waste separation.

He recalled that in 2001, AD had submitted proposals for an integrated waste management strategy.

But the government issued a tender before its strategy had been finalised.

Many serious companies which had been interested in tendering did not do so because of this.

In a statement on the issues, the Malta Movement for Hunting and Environmentalists (as the Ghaqda Kaccaturi, Nassaba u Konservazzjonisti now wants to be known in English) said that apart from creating respiratory diseases and other health complications, the quarries would leave a negative impact on the environment.

This was because the natural geography of the area did not permit such artificial development. With such development, the area would not continue to attract wild life, to the detriment of hunting and trapping.

The movement said it condemned without reservations the decision, which had been taken by a few people, without consulting the public and the people living in the communities proposed for the quarries.