How much waste is being separated and recycled?
In order to encourage waste separation at source and to deviate significant amounts of municipal waste from landfills, bring-in sites began being set up at a local level in 2003. Here the public can dispose of clean, dry recyclable waste (plastic, metal, glass and paper) in separate colour-coded bins.

By June 2005, 75 bring-in-sites had been set up across the islands, and their use has almost doubled in just a year. In 2004, 1,954 tonnes of waste were separated while 967 tonnes were recycled, with paper being recycled amounting to 80 per cent of total recycled waste.

Most of the separated waste consists of light packaging, with the greater fraction of separated waste collected being exported for recycling following pre-treatment in Malta. However, although there has been an increase in waste being separated and recycled, this is still low compared to the total waste being generated, which is 2.5 million tonnes.

The State of the Environment Report 2005 is a Mepa publication available on www.mepa.org.mt