Capping the concern

Joe Mizzi would have us believe that by simply referring to his party's policy document on the environment a solution to waste management in Malta can be found. He presents no other alternative to the reader but delves in a desperate and unfocused attack on the many projects that this government is unfolding on waste

Mr Mizzi knows that paying lip service is one thing; paying for the increased investment planned by this government for the next three years to improve waste management in Malta is another. This government secured some €32 million (co-financed by the EU) to ensure that results are achieved. Surely that should quench Mr Mizzi's thirst for ensuring that waste management is indeed a priority area for this administration.

In his article entitled Priorities In Waste Management (May 2), Mr Mizzi talks about the achievement his party made when the conditions at Sant'Antnin improved. A sum of €16.4 million is in the pipeline to improve these conditions further. This plant will treat 71,000 tonnes of waste out of the total 210,000 tonnes produced annually. Does that imply that all of Malta's waste will be composted in one locality or does it imply that Mr Mizzi is misleading to instil fear and uncertainty?

Mr Mizzi cites Germany as a pioneer in regionalisation. He might be interested to read that Germany also boasts of over 66 mechanical biological plants (many of which incorporating anaerobic digestion) as proposed for the upgrading of Sant'Antnin. Five of these plants are being constructed during this year alone!

Mr Mizzi states that when it comes to plastic he would have preferred to see a rational policy for plastic waste. He justifies this by claiming that the government repealed the legislation that bans beverages from plastic packaging during EU negotiations. Such statement is reminiscent of his leader's political ploy when he piled up plastic bottles in a press conference to convince people that joining the EU would bring environmental catastrophe. Had the Labour Party contributed during the negotiations with the EU, Mr Mizzi would have understood that, through accession, all importers and producers of beverage products (and indeed other products) are obliged to recover a percentage of the type of packaging they put on the market.

In this way, my government is safeguarding free trade but also safeguarding the environment by reducing the amount of plastic in the general waste stream. This could be achieved through licensed packaging recovery schemes and, in the process, be refunded the eco-contribution for assuming responsibility.

Mr Mizzi does justice to our work claiming that the recent developments that have taken place at the Maghtab waste management complex are a result of "Labour's prodding", namely to end the mixing of waste streams and to retain the dump operational. In his 18 months in government, Alfred Sant was unable to achieve any one of the two! He failed to get a consensus with the owners to rehabilitate quarries (despite the adverts in the local media that the dump was closing for inert waste as from August 1997) as well as to stop the indiscriminate dumping at the tip on temperatures above 200°C. If Mr Mizzi is overzealous for prodding, how would he have felt had his party succeeded in achieving the results so far?

Contrastingly, as from mid-2003, my government ensured that inert material is no longer tipped at Maghtab. In the process, over 15 quarries were rehabilitated. This government has also developed interim facilities for municipal waste with systems to collect gas and leachate. A fly-past will definitely help characterise the extent of work that is on-going.

Mr Mizzi visits the Scott Wilson report, completed with the issuing of the tender documents for the installation of aerial emissions control works for Maghtab, Qortin and Wied Fulija. Not surprisingly, he is critical of these efforts too and states that the dump is over 30 years old with little potential for generation of gas. In stating this, Mr Mizzi overlooks the fact that waste continued to be tipped till about a year ago and, therefore, the generation of gas from some waste has yet to begin.

Mr Mizzi implies that Scott Wilson recommends a capping system that is not compatible to hazardous waste landfills but then implies that there is no capping regime proposed in the tender documents. Confusing isn't it; but true. To clear Mr Mizzi's mind, the rehabilitation works, planned over many years, will be phased in. The aerial emission control works is the first phase. The effectiveness of the intervention will determine the gradual capping. Capping a dump with temperatures nearing 200°C may be futile. In the meantime a number of exercises will be carried out to cap the landfill in certain areas where temperatures are already low.

It is acknowledged that there are certain elevated concentrations of certain contaminants in the ground water around Maghtab. However, the levels of heavy metals in the boreholes (peripheral and off-site) are well within the EU limits for drinking water despite the fact that this is not used for public water supply. The levels of iron and manganese are higher than the EU limits but caution with regard to interpretation is prudent since both metals are widely used in agriculture (fertilisers). There are no significant health implications at these levels. The levels of heavy metals in the seawater in the area are also very low.

Mr Mizzi questions our effort to minimise impacts on people as a result of these dumps. Thanks to the lack of environmental concern adopted when these dumps were created, this government has secured €8.4 million as an initial intervention to collect gases to minimise impacts. After assessment of the gases produced from the sites it has been considered necessary to install this aerial emissions control system that will reduce emissions to the atmosphere and therefore the associated health risks. Labour's policy prior to the closure of the dump was to continue dumping for an additional two years despite the consequent repercussions. Then there was little mention of Mr Mizzi's present concern that the dump is subsiding onto the coast road. He should also be reminded that Maghtab would have reached another 30 metres in height by now had we given in to Dr Sant's prodding!

Although there is no evidence of any significant failures to date it has been considered prudent to initiate some form of regrading works to enable a satisfactory standard of restoration to be achieved. The gas management system that has been devised is therefore primarily aimed at reducing the emissions of these hazardous gases (and therefore potential health impacts) to acceptable levels. The gas management system will also allow the collection and destruction of these gases.

Finally, Mr Mizzi dismisses the monitoring regime planned under this Structural Funds project as a mere shortcoming during the Scott Wilson report. He should know that monitoring is imperative to assess the efficiency of the intervention and also to ensure that conditions on and offsite are not deteriorating.

At this stage, I acknowledge the fact that there are many ways of how a solution may be delivered. However, it is irresponsible to depict the efforts taking place as sheer incompetence. If we truly believe that this country of ours deserves better, than we should all get behind a solution and strive for completion. Undermining efforts will only breed uncertainty to the detriment of the subject all of us so wish to contribute to.

Mr Pullicino is Minister for Rural Affairs and the Environment.