Hazardous waste to be transported to Freeport

Containers of hazardous waste from the power station extension will not be loaded onto ships for export at the Delimara quay but will be transported to the Freeport instead, the Finance Ministry has confirmed.

They might even be ferried on barges across Marsaxlokk bay.

The Environmental Impact Assessment for the new plant had said that hazardous waste generated would have to be stored in specialised containers and exported at a rate of 15 per week to avoid power outages.

"Both the options of transferring the containers to the Freeport by barge or by road transport are being considered," a ministry spokesman said.

During the Malta Environment and Planning Authority hearing on the outline development permit in January, residents and local council representatives raised concern at the prospect of having hazardous waste being driven through Marsaxlokk and Birżebbuġa to the Freeport.

The special containers were not part of the €200 million agreement signed in May last year between the government and Danish company BWSC, which will be supplying the new plant.

The ministry has now confirmed that each special container is expected to cost about €25,000 and a decision still has to be taken whether Enemalta will buy the containers or include them as part of the eventual waste disposal contract that still has to be awarded.

"Either Enemalta will purchase them or they will be supplied by the waste disposal contractor. The decision will be based on the relative costs," the spokesman said.

The ministry said 15 such containers would be needed at a total cost of €375,000 but the EIA had said that the site at Delimara, known as Area 17, within the present power station complex, could store 80 containers at any one time, which equates to about two months of storage capacity.

If Enemalta were to purchase 80 containers the cost would spiral to €2 million.

The contract with BWSC also provides for the construction of an ash silo with a three-day storage capacity where the waste will be stored before being transferred to the specialised 20-foot containers for export.

The plant, which will operate on heavy fuel oil, will be producing 30 tonnes of hazardous solid waste every day that has to be exported under very strict conditions because Malta has no facility to dispose of it.

The waste is a by-product of the gas purification systems to be installed at the plant, required to satisfy EU clean air legislation.

Enemalta still has no contract to dispose of the ash but the ministry insisted there was no purpose to have an agreement in place now for waste that "will only be produced when the plant is operational not before late 2011".

"The safe and proper disposal of waste will be one of the conditions of the Mepa environmental permit," the spokesman said, insisting the contract would be awarded after a call for tenders.

"A tender will be published soon so that the contract is in place before the plant is expected to commence operations," he said.

Cross-boundary transport of hazardous waste is governed by the Basle Convention and Malta would have to ensure the treatment facility receiving the power station's waste was up to standard and situated in an EU member state.

The amount of waste generated is directly linked to the fuel used in the plant. The experts who drew up the EIA had said that running the plant on diesel instead of heavy fuel oil would produce much less waste, putting less strain on the operator to ensure weekly exports of the hazardous material.

The chosen technology has the potential of being run on diesel, which is costlier than fuel oil.