Opposition to plans for larger recycling plant

The Labour Party's third electoral district committee together with the local committees of Zabbar and Zejtun have hit out at the government's plans to replace the existing Sant'Antnin recycling plant in Marsascala with a larger plant that would process most of the waste generated in the Maltese islands.

The district committee said the plant would be 10 times bigger than the present one and would process 200,000 tons of waste each year.

While it pledged its support to the action committee set up by the Marsascala local council against the plant, the district committee said the Sant'Antnin plant was just metres away from residential zones in Zabbar, Zejtun and Marsascala and therefore a new larger plant on the same site would result in an increase of waste collection trucks frequenting the area to the detriment of residents.

The new plant would pose more threats to public health and the value of property would fall while owners of catering establishments there would be affected negatively, the committee said.

It invited MPs from the third district to give their unconditional support to the Marsascala local council and appealed to the Maltese members of the European Parliament to offer their help so that such plans would be scrapped.

The Marsascala council will be holding a public meeting to discuss the issue in the locality on January 15.