Sant' Antnin plant

"There should never have been a search for alternative sites for the Sant' Antin recycling plant," says Vince Magri, CEO of Wasteserv, in an interview (January 19).

So why embark on a study to look for alternative sites? And why did the study concentrate on sites whose size was nothing in comparison to the existing one? Mr Magri's opening statement seems to give sufficient weight to the accusation that the whole exercise was just a smokescreen. And a pretty costly one at that.

Mr Magri admits that the existing recycling plant was inconvenient and the new plant will reduce odours and other inconveniences - like the stream of lorries bringing refuse to our doorsteps perhaps? How kind of him! We should all be so thankful that our inconveniences will be reduced not eliminated!

"In essence the whole project involved an upgrade of an existing plant." Upgrading means improving equipment or machinery by replacing old, out-of-date components with new ones. Are we replacing a component or a whole plant?

"In 1998, by using plastic to close off certain areas, and processing less waste, the problem of odours was virtually eliminated." The plant stank every single day during the summer months. Obviously Mr Magri has never bothered to come down for a drink on our seafront to smell out the truth.

"There was never a choice of removing it or relocating it". Then why spend thousands on sham studies? Board members unanimously voted for the project to go ahead without questions asked! In view of the opinions Mr Magri expressed to his interviewer, the whole exercise was obviously one in sham democracy.

The interviewer stated: "The Sant' Antnin plant recycles 30 per cent of domestic waste. Mr Magri said that Malta now needed to find another site to process the remaining 70 per cent in order to meet international obligations."

It seems that other parts of Malta might find out in the near future what we at Marsascala have had to go through. I don't envy them but it may teach us all the lesson that sitting on the fence until our turn comes never solves anything. It might also silence those critics who have nothing to do with Marsascala.