Waste recycling plant set to start producing electricity

The Sant' Antnin Waste Recycling Plant is set to start feeding electrical power to the grid, Resources Minister George Pullicino said this morning.

The electricity, enough to meet the needs of 1,400 households, will be produced from the gases emitted from organic waste processed at the plant. Heat produced during this process will be channelled from the plant to heat the pool at Inspire (Park of Friendship). By-products will be turned into compost.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi on November 26 will inaugurate the third stage of the plant, which includes equipment known as digestors for the treatment of organic waste and two generators for the conversion of the gas into electrical power. The system is currently being tested, using manure.

Wastserv plans to treat 71,000 tons of waste annually, out of a total of 250,000 produced in Malta.

Mr Pullicino praised Wastserv for the way the waste plant is being administered, noting that no stench was being emitted. The situation was so good, he said, that Wastserv administrative staff who used to work in Sta Venera, have been transferred to a building adjacent to the plant..

Mr Pullicino said that work on the building of a Family Park on an adjacent site has started. The new park will be six times bigger than the one at Ta' Qali.