Sunday, 23rd November 2008
Cancerous material exported - at €440 per square metre
More than 800 tonnes of asbestos has been exported since 2005 for disposal in hazardous waste landfills abroad.
Until such a landfill is created in Malta, this carcinogenic waste will continue to be exported at a cost of €440 per square metre.
The issue came to light recently after the health authorities said they were investigating the collapse of a factory roof in Mriehel, which exposed slabs of asbestos.
An application has been filed for the construction of a hazardous waste landfill at Maghtab, according to a spokesman for the Malta Environment and Planning Authority.
Asbestos is currently stored in a disused underground power station in Kordin. The site is managed by Enemalta, but the authorities stopped disposing of material there in 2004, choosing instead to export it.
Some of the material stored in Kordin is owned by companies such as Air Malta, which recently issued a tender for the removal, exportation and disposal of asbestos from the facility.
"Enemalta hopes to eventually export the rest of the asbestos to a licensed depository in the EU or to the Wasteserv hazardous waste landfill when this is available," a spokesman for the Infrastructure Ministry said.
He insisted there was nothing wrong with storing asbestos at the historic site in Kordin adding that the material was being disposed of carefully to ensure it was not a hazard to public health.
"Asbestos waste must be stored at a site where access at controlled and limited," he added.
The carcinogenic construction material was also used in the old Kordin power station, so the old machinery stored in the building is heavily contaminated.
The asbestos is stored according to international regulations in plastic bags marked 'asbestos', the spokesman said.
He explained that the storage was safe, as the hazardous material was a danger only when fibres escape into the air and was inhaled. The asbestos is securely stored in double bags in a secure installation which is sufficiently humid to prevent formation of dust.
According to a Mepa spokesman, there is no national data on the amount of asbestos used in buildings.
"Most of the asbestos was mainly used for the roofing of factories within industrial estates and other large roof structures. The use of asbestos for other purposes in Malta is rare," he said.
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Comments
Give us the Environment Permit number for the facility in Kordin. According to the Landfill directive, the Kordin site is legally considered as a hazardous waste landfill. How many inspections were performed over there? Instead of paying lip service to the public, publish the inspection reports performed by environment inspectors (which should be freely available to the public) in order to verify that everything is up to environmental standards in Kordin.
Furthermore, how can it be the use of asbestos for other purposes in Malta can be rare? Mr. Spokemen, have you been on the roof lately? All those pipes and tanks?
And MEPA still has not answered for all those pipes lying about in Hal Far, broken and exposed.
As the Authority who is in charge of Planning and Waste Management, is it not time that it started inspecting building sites before they are given permits to demolish? The legal notice in regards to asbestos came out in 2001. In seven year nothing was done???