Waste separation effort hits rumours snag

Rumours that contractors are mixing separated waste collected at bring-in sites is denting public confidence in the recycling scheme.

The Times spent an afternoon following a contractor's truck to determine whether it had become common practice or was it just an unfounded claim.

On that particular afternoon everything was done according to the regulations and the truck which drove into the Sant'Antnin waste treatment plant, in Marsascala carried nothing but plastic.

Since WasteServ took on the responsibility of the bring-in sites in different localities last November, regular spot checks have never yielded any irregularities.

"The rumours are very frustrating because they dampen people's enthusiasm in recycling. Since WasteServ took over we have never had a case where we could prove that the contractor was mixing the waste," Daniela Vella, WasteServ's communications coordinator, said.

Ms Vella said that WasteServ regularly received calls from people claiming the contractor was mixing waste but when pushed to give more details so that the company could take action, the callers usually stepped back, saying they were not the ones who had witnessed it.

"We have to make this clear. In these cases we never take the contractor's side. What interests us is that the waste which people separate at home reaches Sant'Antnin," she insisted.

"Sometimes there are trucks that do collect the bulky refuse which piles up alongside the bring-in sites and this is not separated but collected together. This may confuse observers and lead them to believe that the waste is being mixed. But like I said we take each report very seriously," she added.

"Each truck is equipped with a Datatrak system that enables us to track the vehicle whenever we want and do a spot check. We can also see where the truck is dumping the waste."

Ms Vella said that if the public witnessed a contractor putting the waste in the same batch they should note the truck's registration number as well as the time, day and location and immediately call WasteServ to report the incident on Freephone 8007 2200.

In an attempt to nip the rumours in the bud WasteServ had rejected a suggestion that the trucks will be equipped with compartments to be able to collect paper, cans, glass and plastic simultaneously. "A truck with compartments would only serve to fuel the rumour that all the waste is being combined, so we make sure the contractor collects one kind of waste at a time," she said.

An average of three tons of waste is being collected every month from each bring-in site scattered across the island. This figure will have to increase substantially if Malta is to reach the targets laid down by the EU. The rumours claiming that the scheme was not working obviously do not help.

According to WasteServ's latest figures for July, a total of 36,900kg of paper were collected from the 30 bring-in sites in Malta; 13,500kg of plastic; 7,360kg of cans and 18,340kg of glass.

Malta still has a long way to go to meet the EU requirements of 800 tons of plastic a year, 1,100 tons of metal, 3,000 tons of glass and 9,000 tons of cardboard and paper, a commitment the Maltese government made during its EU accession negotiations.

All the material collected from the bring-in sites was being taken to the Sant' Antnin plant where plastic bottles were being hand-sorted according to the type of plastic, crushed, bailed and exported for recycling.

Glass was also being hand separated according to colour on site and stored for the time being since a local company had expressed interest to start recycling it.

Paper was also separated - newsprint was shredded and used as animal bedding, white paper was recycled into toilet paper while glossy paper is exported.

At the moment the responsibility to collect the waste from the bring-in sites and take it to Sant'Antnin lies with WasteServ. The company is striving to try and split Malta into regions and get local councils to join forces to choose one contractor to collect the waste from a region comprising four or five localities.

Christopher Ciantar, WasteServ's head of strategy and development, said that the localities of Gharghur, Mellieha, Mgarr, Mosta, Naxxar and St Paul's Bay had adopted this scheme. "We are waiting for more local councils to take the leap and assume responsibility for these bring-in sites," Dr Ciantar said.