Skip owners held a protest at Maghtab this morning as new fees for dumping at the landfill came into force.

The GRTU in a statement also complained that no infrastructure had been put in place to justify the drastic increase in the fees.

The chamber said that despite talks it had had with the government, no agreement had been reached on these fees.

According to a legal notice issued in December, deposits of waste which is not separated at Zwejra landfill are to be charged at €20 per tonne instead of 91c per tonne.

Meanwhile, the fee for deposits of separated waste at Sant' Antnin has been reduced to 50c per tonne from 77c.

The GRTU said it agreed that the landfills should be sustainable, but the government also needed to recognise the impact which this rise would have on contractors working for the private sector.

It said that the government's decision to go ahead with the tariff increase would create unnecessary trouble.

"It is not too late for the situation to be resolved," the GRTU added.

The governemnt had said when the fees were announced that the measure was being taken to promote waste separation and waste recycling.

The skip owners, who are to have a meeting with WastServe officials later today, complained that people are making abusive use of their skips and they were not being allowed to use the civil amenity sites, where dumping of separated waste is free of charge.