Wasteserve Ltd, a 100 per cent Government-owned company staffed with former Works Department employees, has embarked on a three-month campaign to encourage members of the public to separate their waste at source.
They can then take their separated waste to one of 25 bring-in sites that are to be located in 14 towns and villages around Malta.
"Waste is a resource," Wasteserve CEO Vincent Magri told The Sunday Times just before the campaign kicked off earlier this month. He recalled that Maltese families have been recycling waste since 1999 when the first five pilot bring-in sites were set up at Pembroke.
"Waste collected from the bring-in sites are never taken to Maghtab," Mr Magri said. "The plastic is exported; the paper is shredded locally and used for animal bedding or exported; and glass and metals are stored for bulk shipment.
"All the waste is currently sorted manually at the waste recycling plant at Sant'Antnin and this will be automated from 2006 when the plant is upgraded."
Mr Magri stressed that all waste placed in the bring-in sites should be "dry". Plastic bottles and cans should be empty and tins should be rinsed. Paper must also be clean (not used for any other purpose before being discarded).
Special collecting carts are used to collect the refuse from the bring-in sites. These can collect two different types of waste at the same time and Mr Magri urged the public to report if any mixing of this refuse is noticed.
Apart from Pembroke, there are four bring-in sites at Swieqi, three each in Marsascala and Birkirkara, and there are currently ten other applications pending with the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA).
These are located at Balzan, Rabat, Sta Lucija, Safi, San Gwann, Sliema, St Paul's Bay, Zejtun, Zabbar and Marsaxlokk. Along with these are similar waste separation bins in 26 schools and at the University of Malta.
Mr Magri believes that waste separation involves a culture change and it is with children and the elderly that the campaign first started. Wasteserve was set up on January 2, 2003, and has been charged with contracting waste collection, waste disposal, handling all education and public relations connected with waste separation, and to operate all the refuse disposal sites in Malta and Gozo.
These include Maghtab, Wied Fulija, Qortin, the temporary landfills, interim landfills, long-term landfills and all bring-in sites.
"The bring-in sites are not intended to be mini-dumping sides," Mr Magri observed. "They are intended for people to dispose of waste in a clean way."
The next step is for Wasteserve to establish civic amenity sites where larger items of do-it-yourself waste can be taken. By 2006 there should be five of this sites in Malta and two in Gozo, apart from hundreds of bring-in sites.
"Malta is one of the few places in the world where there is a daily refuse collection," Mr Magri said. While this will continue, Wasteserve will continue to work to offer waste collection facilities that are not commercially viable."
While some people are highly committed to recycling, the Mediterranean mentality prevails (Spain has yet to adopt waste separation at source).
"We obtained a 40 per cent success rate with the Pembroke bring-in sites and are aiming for a 60 per cent success rate nationally," he said.