In reply to Robert Caruana's letter entitled Storing Glass In The Countryside, WasteServ Malta Ltd would like to point out the following:

Wied Fulija is not "the countryside" as suggested in the letter but a formerly permitted dump where gases are currently being collected from within it as the first part of the rehabilitation process of the site. It cannot be accessed and utilised by the public with or without glass being stored there because of this reason.

With regard to potential harm to the environment, glass is inert and there is no decomposition going on. This practically means that material deposited there has no long-term effect, and when removed the area will simply return to its previous state.

Also, it is true that WasteServ is asking for glass to be cleaned when deposited at Bring-In Sites.

As long as the glass stored at Wied Fulija is clean and not mixed with other waste such as food remains and other organic material, it will not attract pests during storage. This will enable full recycling once WasteServ collects enough to make its treatment viable.

Last but not least, WasteServ deplores the fact that this issue was politicised and has subsequently created such a negative reaction.

Around 10,000 tonnes of recyclables, including glass, were collected in 2008, and these were all saved from being deposited in the engineered landfill. Only by using Bring-In Sites and other waste separation schemes can we ensure that this waste is not landfilled but sent for treatment and recycling.