Waste recycling plant about to start generating energy

The Sant'Antnin waste recycling plant is expected to start producing energy from organic waste early next year, possibly in March, Resources Minister George Pullicino said yesterday.

In fact, he said, 60 per cent of the equipment known as digester, where organic waste will be processed in huge tanks, is now in place.

The minister pledged in a press conference that there will be no odours coming out of the plant this time round, implicitly responding to the ongoing protest of residents against the plant.

The statement, in fact, comes after the European Parliament's Petitions Committee decided on Tuesday to turn down a protest petition by the lobby fighting the plant. But the timing of yesterday's press conference, during which the minister toured the plant, was a pure coincidence, Mr Pullicino was keen to point out.

The gas generation was one of the sore points that characterised the battle against the plant, with lobbyists claiming that the gas tanks the plant will have pose a danger to neighbouring residents.

The gas will be produced during the composting of the organic waste and will be channelled to generators that will produce yearly energy to supply 1,400 households.

Despite the event being unconnected to the ruling of the petitions' committee, Mr Pullicino noted that the decision, finding that the authorities did not breach any EU rules when they approved the plant, confirmed a previous declaration by the European Commission that the plant's redevelopment complied with EU rules.

Nonetheless, the committee against the plant will not let up and said yesterday it will be seeking the advice of several members of the EU Petitions Committee to continue to fight its case at local institutions.

The lobby said the Petitions Committee had not dismissed the residents' complaints but simply decided that the matter did not fall under EU competence but had to be contested in Malta. The Petitions Committee chairman said he will be writing to the Maltese authorities to warn them to respect the interests of residents in environmental projects such as these, the committee against the plant said.