Market for excavated construction material should be created - BICC

Creating a market for excavated material is the main thrust of proposals on construction and demolition waste submitted to the government by the Building Industry Consultative Council as part of the consultation process on the Solid Waste Management Strategy for the Maltese Islands.

The BICC said that a market was more likely to be achieved if the material was excavated in large rectangular blocks rather than as the irregular and partially crushed material excavated at most construction sites.

The council said Wasteserv should establish two or three depots in Malta where excavated material from a building site could be taken, provided that the material was in the form of large blocks. Wasteserv would then seek to sell the material locally or overseas.

It proposed that Wasteserv would then pass on the funds to the developer who would have brough the material to the depot, less a percentage to cover costs. If Wasteserv was unable to sell and the depots filled up, it could use the material to create artificial reefs, for landscape modelling or in any other way it deemed fit. In this eventuality, no payment would be due to the developer bringing the material to the depot.

The private sector, the BICC said, should also be encouraged to set up such depots and wherever possible to identify innovative means of making use of this material. In the long run, and once an adequate market was established, only private sector depots should remain operational.