Gozo's Qortin landfill is to be landscaped and possibly turned into a park after the planning authority yesterday approved its rehabilitation.
Landscaping details are still subject to final approval and converting the dump into a park, as planned by the government, would require a whole new planning application.
The project, managed by WasteServ, runs parallel to the rehabilitation of the Magħtab landfill approved in March by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority's board. Like Qortin, Magħtab is also planned as a park, pending a separate permit.
The rehabilitation, which was welcomed by the Malta Resources Authority, will cost €3.5 million, 85 per cent of which funded by the EU.
The Qortin landfill, near Xagħra, was used as a dump for 30 years and was closed down in 2004 when waste started being shipped to Malta. Most of the waste disposed there consisted of construction debris but domestic waste was also dumped, causing fires and foul smells, which sometimes drifted to nearby Marsalforn.
The Malta Environment and Planning Authority yesterday approved the rehabilitation of the 50,000 square metre site. This will require "capping": packing the top layer of the mound with materials that will make it stable and not allow air to infiltrate. This will also help reduce fires caused when waste-generated gases burn and are fuelled by oxygen that seeps through the mound. A previous planning permit had tackled the extraction of gases through a system of pipes.
Following a €1 million investment, over 340 tonnes of carbon dioxide had been extracted and disposed of.
Once the capping is in place, the rain will no longer seep into the mound. For this reason the permit lays down the need for a storm water culvert system and reservoirs to collect water for irrigation or fire control.
The issue of landscaping was kept as a reserved matter as the landfill is surrounded by a Natura 2000 protected site. This means landscaping details will only be approved once it is ascertained that the existing ecosystem would not be disturbed.