Plastic bags

The Minister for the Environment, George Pullicino, seems to have lost his grip on the waste management problem and has vented his frustration by embarking on a Don Quixotic battle against evil plastic bags! Taxation on plastic bags has reached ridiculous levels. People cannot find an alternative to them despite Mr Pullicino's suggestions that we should use bio-degradable plastic bags that are rare to find.

The minister justifies his eco tax on bags by claiming that plastic bags are a source of dioxin. In reality, most plastic bags are made of polyethylene which does not emit dioxin when combusted. The lame argument that dioxin may form in the presence of chlorides at the Maghtab landfill is far-fetched.

In a bid to rescue himself from political isolation, the minister is now trying to embroil me in his imaginary battle against the plastic basilisk by claiming that I am supporting the eco tax on plastic bags! It seems that Mr Pullicino has misinterpreted what I said on a radio programme and placed my words out of context of the European framework on waste on which my statements are modelled (and, hopefully, also those of the minister). My statement was intended to confirm that taxation on waste is an objective defined in EU Directives.

On the other hand, a waste policy based on the taxation of plastic bags (as if this is the solution to our waste problem) is ridiculous and makes a parody of the EU Directives. The real problem is not the plastic bags, which are often re-cycled by citizens as garbage bags, but their contents which ends up at Maghtab.

Taxing plastic bags is the wrong approach to the waste problem, unless the Environment Minister considers the financial deficit to be the real motive for the tax on plastic bags. Let us hope that this fiscal measure was not really intended to vantage a particular importer or producer who would appear on the scene offering his product as an alternative to the polyethylene plastic bag.

Once again, Mr Pullicino has shown that his initiatives in waste management are devoid of strategy. He has reduced the waste management strategy plan drawn up by EU experts into a useless document which only serves to adorn his office bookshelf. Despite his actions he expects people to applaud his half-baked initiatives and cannot tolerate any criticism on his ad hoc decisions. A case in point is when he recently walked out of a public meeting on the proposed expansion of the Sant'Antnin recycling plant in Marsascala.

Mr Pullicino's abominable proposal on the Sant'Antnin recycling plant was rightly met with popular indignation. The people's angry reaction has been conditioned by the PN's long history of unfulfilled promises, U-turns and irrationality (Who can forget the proposed landfill at Mnajdra?) on matters regarding waste management.

Mr Pullicino's honeyed words about his venture to expand operations at Sant'Antnin did not impress his incredulous audience. It is normal that people anywhere would react vehemently when their safety, livelihood and their children's health is threatened. But not so for the PN media, which reported this meeting or, indeed, any other protests against the government as if it were the most contemptible of actions.

Now that the tide of popular discontent with Lawrence Gonzi's government has reached tsunami proportions, the PN media and its political leadership are lashing out at the disgruntled ordinary citizens of this country. Environmental protestors and ordinary citizens of Marsascala are being depicted by the PN as if they are an unruly and violent rabble when in fact they are the potential victims of an arrogant administration.

The strategic vilification of opponents has for long been a shameful tactic of PN propaganda which besmirches mythical evil qualities on anyone that contradicts their diktat. Everyone recalls how a few decades ago the relentless pursuit of the same PN media was to defame the Labour leader. That strategy proved counter productive in a nation that upholds the values of human decency. Alfred Sant's statesmanship and his policy of saying the truth is now bearing fruit and in good time he will pick the harvest for the benefit of all of us.

Mr Mizzi is the Labour Party's main spokesman for infrastructural services.