100,000 vehicles utilised civic amenity sites

A total of 100,000 vehicles deposited around 18,800 tonnes of separated domestic bulky waste at three civic amenity sites by the end of September, according to statistics seen by The Sunday Times.

The Mrieħel site remains the most popular, with more than 68,000 vehicles visiting this facility and unloading 11,800 tonnes since it was opened in March 2007.

Over 28,000 visitors visited the Magħtab site, opened in November 2006, depositing around 6,000 tonnes. Another 7,500 vehicles visited the Ħal Far site, which opened last February, dumping over 1,000 tonnes of separated bulky waste.

The civic amenity sites, or centres for bulky waste, were created by Waste Serv Malta Ltd .

Its chief executive officer Vince Magri said: "The public has made a success story out of these sites, and it's thanks to them that we are now proud to state that we are helping the environment concretely by separating our waste effectively. Apart from reducing the amount of waste going to the landfill, these civic amenity sites were very effective in reducing drastically the amount of illegal tipping."

He said two more sites will be launched in the coming weeks in Luqa and Gozo.

The civic amenity sites are controlled facilities where the public may deposit and discard a variety of waste items separately.

They allow the public to drive through, separately dispose of different materials including electronic waste, used furniture items, garden waste, cardboard, mattresses, spent medicines and waste oils.

Also available are containers for waste fractions, which are normally deposited at the bring-in sites.

The sites are open from 7.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. daily, including weekends and public holidays. The project is being part-financed through the EU's Structural Funds, with an estimated value of €4.6 million.

The government is co-funding 27 per cent of the project.