86 per cent do not use bring-in sites

Around 260 tonnes of paper, 92 tonnes of plastic, 48 tonnes of metal and 139 tonnes of glass were collected by WasteServ from bring-in sites in the past eight months, Environment Minister George Pullicino said yesterday.

He said these amounts augured well for the extension of waste separation in Malta and Gozo but there was still much more recyclable material that could be recovered.

The minister was speaking during a consultation meeting between WasteServ and councils. The councils were presented with a proposed plan for the implementation of an EU-funded waste separation project.

The project, entitled Establishing Civic Amenity And Bring-In Sites, A Separate Household Waste Collection And An Integrated Communications Strategy, was aimed at phasing-in waste separation nationwide.

The meeting discussed the various components of the proposed waste separation project. These included the development of a number of bring-in sites for the separation of paper, glass, metal and plastic and the setting up of recycling centres (civic amenity sites) for bulky waste.

Another aspect was waste separation from households in order to complement the modernisation of the Sant'Antnin waste treatment plant, for which €16.7 million of cohesion funds was being targeted.

Current waste management practices as well as challenges being faced by local councils to introduce sustainable waste management facilities were also being discussed.

However, WasteServ chief executive officer Christopher Ciantar said that according to research conducted by a private company, 86 per cent of the public did not use bring-in sites.

He explained that 69 per cent said there were no bring-in sites in their locality, 20 per cent said there were no bring-in sites close to their home, four per cent preferred separated waste to be collected from homes, three per cent did not feel the need to separate waste, another three per cent were not willing to separate waste and one per cent gave other reasons.

However, 32 per cent said they were very interested in separating, 50 per cent said they were interested, 14 per cent said they were not interested and four per cent said they were not interested at all.

Dr Ciantar said that according to estimates, the amount of recyclable waste generated in homes daily amounted to about 29.7 tonnes of paper and cartons, 26.5 tonnes of plastic, 9.9 tonnes of metal and 10.4 tonnes of glass.

Yesterday's consultation meeting was with councils from the centre to the north of Malta. A similar consultation meeting was held with Gozo councils on Wednesday and another meeting is being held with councils from the southern area today.

Similar meetings are planned for environmental non-governmental organisations.

Mr Pullicino said local councils played an important role in devising an adequate system for waste separation in Malta.

"The challenges and risks that lie ahead need to be examined closely and in full collaboration with local councils so that the needs of each locality are seen to in the implementation of a waste separation system."

WasteServ, he said, obtained €4.6 million in structural funds from the EU to finance the waste separation project being discussed.

Waste was now being deposited at Ta' Zwejra which was developed in strict observance to international laws and standards. This facility, the minister said, had five protective layers to ensure against seepage.

Mr Pullicino said that work was also continuing on a number of projects leading to an expense of about €32 million. The EU was providing finances amounting to about €24 million.

Dr Ciantar spoke about plans to upgrade the Sant'Antnin Waste Recycling Plant so that it would be able to treat 36,000 tonnes of recyclable waste and 35,000 tonnes of organic waste a year.

He said the plant was opened in 1993 with the aim of treating 80,000 tonnes of waste but there had been several problems arising from the odours it was emitting.

An EcoPod system was introduced in 1998 to overcome this problem and although successful it had posed big limitations on the plant as it was no longer able to treat the amount it was designed for.