Steep rise in landfill fees 'will encourage illegal dumping'

The 25-fold rise in the fee to be levied on refuse trucks discharging mixed waste in a landfill will lead to an increase in illegal dumping, the organisation that represents small businesses has warned.

Mixed waste dumped at Għallis is charged at 77c a ton but this will go up to €20 soon and, eventually, to €25 and, again, to €30 next year. On the other hand, the fee to dump recycled waste at the Sant'Antnin recycling plant will drop from 77c a ton to 50c on June 1.

The director general of the Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises - GRTU, Vince Farrugia, admitted that the new differentiated tariffs would help draw a clear distinction between separated and non-separated waste.

But he said the increase was still too hefty for industry, hotels, restaurants and retailers to afford. The higher fees, he warned, would lead to more illegal dumping taking place.

He hit out at WasteServ, the waste management agency, for raising the charges without first securing an agreement with stakeholders. But his sternest criticism was reserved for the Malta Resources Authority which, he said, had rubberstamped the increase requested by Wasteserv, an institution that had a monopoly in the sector.

"I would have expected the ministry to conduct a proper economic impact assessment to determine what effect such increases would have. The big businesses, such as hotels and restaurants, will have to absorb the increase while other retailers have to see how possible it will be to pass them on to consumers."

Mr Farrugia said WasteServ was only the scapegoat in the matter because it needed the funds to operate the landfills, a cost which now ran into millions of euros.

Rather than simply raising fees, the GRTU had recommended going about it in a way that would make more environmental and economic sense, Mr Farrugia said. For example, it wanted the government to help waste carriers upgrade their fleets. Talks with the government on such a scheme were underway, he added.

Refuse trucks were now running on Euro I standard engines, which had high emissions. A new Euro IV truck, with lower emissions, cost about €175,000 and a second-hand Euro III refuse truck about €19,000. Mr Farrugia said the GRTU wanted the government to waive the registration fee for such vehicles, which would amount to between €7,000 and €8,500.

It was also suggesting that trucks install automatic weighing scales to calculate the precise amount of waste being landfilled but this would cost between €10,000 and €15,000.

There are about 90 refuse trucks in operation and another 160 skip loaders owned by 60 operators.