Ever since the closure of the Maghtab dump in June 2003, enough debris has been dumped in private quarries to build a village, WasteServ said today.
"Since the closure of the old Maghtab dump, some 6 million tonnes of waste were diverted from Maghtab and deposited in private quarries by a contractor offering this service. Had this waste been deposited at Maghtab, the mountain would have become unstable and more virgin land would have been needed to extend the footprint of the dump. This volume is equivalent to that occupied by 10,000 floors of a building on a normal plot (7x20m or 21x66ft) or to that occupied by 5,000 terraced houses with two floors, which may be considered as the equivalent of a village.
WasteServ gave an account of developments in Maghtab in view of the controversy which erupted since MLP leader Alfred Sant tried to go there on Tuesday.
"First of all, the old Maghtab and Qortin dumps were effectively closed by (EU) accession date. Had they remained active past 1st May 2004, Malta would now be dealing with infringement fines and adverse action from the European Union" WasteServ said.
It said the Maghtab Environmental Complex is made up of a number of waste management facilities. There is the Civic Amenity Site, the Ghallis Non-Hazardous Engineered Waste Landfill, the closed Zwejra Engineered Landfill, the Hazardous Waste Landfill, the Hazardous Waste Treatment and Storage Facility. In addition, there is also the old dump which was closed and is now being rehabilitated.
"All these facilities use the same entrance, and the Refuse Collection Vehicles referred to in the media were being directed to the Ghallis Waste Engineered Landfill and not to the old dump," WasteServ said.
"Since the Zwejra Engineered Landfill is now closed, a process of capping has now started so that gases are captured and rain water prevented from seeping into the waste. This is done by covering the area with a Geo-synthetic Clay Liner (GCL) or with normal clay. Currently, this material is also being delivered to the site by trucks.
"It may be noted that earlier, this
material was being stored on the Maghtab dump to seal the top layer and used
when required to deal with fires but now it is being transported directly to
Zwejra to cap the first Engineered Landfill in Malta."
With regards to gas collection and
treatment, WasteServ this is an ongoing project. €4m (out of the allocated
€8.3m) have so far been utilised for this implementation. Due to the high temperatures still experienced
at the closed dump, vapour can be seen when it rains. These emissions will be a thing of the past when
the wells are all operational and when the surface is covered by clean inert
material extracted from the excavation at Ghallis. Gradually, this is to be
covered by engineered soil from plantation, produced from compost and inert
waste.
Furthermore, at the closed Maghtab dump, WasteServ has shifted over 350,000 cubic metres of material to create the necessary stability. The area where plantation is currently being done has been completed and covered with engineered soil. However in other areas, WasteServ still needs to 'cut' into the mountain and 'fill' before gas wells are drilled and the dump is covered by soil for plantation.