Curtains flutter in a home opposite the recycling bins. Reports reach Wasteserv of an unauthorised collector loading the wood, paper, glass and plastic, all carefully separated by residents, and hauling it away mixed together.
The ghost truck evades capture by Wasteserv¡¯s tracking system which indicates that the culprit is striking from outside the system. Any operator bringing mixed waste to the Materials Recovery Facility at Marsascala would not be paid for the trip.
Chief executive officer for Wasteserv, Vince Magri, suspects it may be someone trying to make a little money on the side by sorting the recyclables and taking whatever may be of value while possibly dumping the rest.
Residents who go to the trouble of depositing their recyclables in separate bins are invited to report any activity not carried out by valid operators.
Expired medicines, batteries, used oil, mattresses, old computers are all accepted at the civic amenity sites. What cannot be recycled is converted to energy. Methane gas is extracted from organic waste (kitchen scraps) at the digestion plant.
Clinical waste, which used to send black smoke curling into the sky over Msida, is now diluted and incinerated at high temperature. The air is cleaner in Gozo too as thick smoke from the hospital chimney no longer blackens the sky. Each week two skips of clinical waste arrive in Malta from Gozo in sealed containers on the first ferry of the day.
The clinking sound of glass bottles in crates disappeared almost overnight when Malta¡¯s derogation on importing soft drinks in plastic bottles expired last year. Taking returnables to the grocer or supermarket was replaced by trips to deposit plastic bottles in the nearest recycling bin. Collected, baled and shredded, the bottles are exported, then made into beads to produce more bottles, thread for carpets or filling for jackets and quilts.
Plastic bottles thrown into the household rubbish bin end up as fuel for the new incinerator at Marsa. As Magg¤tab slowly burned their toxic fumes were released into the air. Incineration to EU standards is a huge improvement but some hazardous residues may still remain in fly ash.
Any dangerous materials detected in fly ash are locked into concrete blocks to be stored at a hazardous waste facility. Fly ash improves the strength of concrete, making it smoother and easier to pump. Tracking the movement of trucks carrying fly ash might not be a bad idea.
The Marsa incinerator holds a permit as a hazardous waste treatment plant but Wasteserv is still unable to forecast what quantities of hazardous waste will be treated there. Pollution control equipment to treat gas emissions takes up four times the area of the actual oven.
The incinerator¡¯s capacity is fixed by how much energy it generates rather than a set volume of waste. Reduction of emissions begins at the feed-in stage. Balancing input of diesel oil and waste fuels of different calorific values while at the same time keeping emissions under control will govern the amount and types of waste handled from hour to hour.
Burning of plastics, or refuse derived fuel, containing chlorines would be restricted by the system if there is a chance that air quality will suffer. An automated system shuts down input if pollution levels are exceeded. Tipping of waste industrial solvents came to an end after Magg¤tab closed in 2004 and local industries faced high freight charges to export them for safe treatment. Insurance costs for transporters of hazardous waste are very high.
Solvents can only be legally disposed of by the industry in hazardous waste incinerators like the Marsa facility. Handing their solvents over to Wasteserv for treatment could help to meet waste management obligations at a more reasonable cost by making the solvents available as fuel to burn other types of waste at the incinerator.
Another type of fuel derived from refuse (RDF) is also burnt at the incinerator. After glass and metal are removed from mixed rubbish then the paper and plastic remnants are used to fuel the incinerator.
The formation of harmful dioxins is discouraged by using temperatures of between 800-900 degrees Celsius. The emissions are cooled quickly before dioxins can form, passed through calcium carbonate, dosed with chemicals to collect heavy metals then run through back filters.
The residue of hazardous pollutants is to be locked into concrete blocks where it is unlikely to escape. These will be stored at the hazardous landfill as soon as an operating permit from Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control unit at the Malta Environment and Planning Authority is granted.
Energy generated at the incinerator is energy saved by the Government. Enemalta buys renewable energy from non-industrial sources at around seven euro cents per kilowatt hour. Wasteserv, which is government funded, expects to benefit from whatever amount is saved at the power station.
Continuous realtime monitoring at eight points around the incinerator will be fed to the Malta Environment and Planning Authority by the end of this month. A website is being set up by Wasteserv for the public to access the results of monitoring at the incinerator.