Waste oils firm to stop work as smells return

The planning authority has stopped operations at a waste oils company after foul smells returned to the Menqa area in Marsa.

In a brief two-sentence statement the Malta Environment and Planning Authority said it had asked Falzon Waste Oils Ltd to “temporarily cease operations” because of the presence of “offensive odours” in the area next to Hexagon House.

The authority said that it was assessing the situation, without elaborating.

The Menqa area has been for years a notorious hotspot for foul smells, which the local council blames on the waste oils company’s operations.

In July the company’s officials were cleared of dumping oils in the drainage system earlier in the month because the investigation had failed to satisfy criminal proceedings which could lead to conviction.

The manholes at Spencer Hill and Timber Wharf in Marsa were inspected in March 2009 after residents complained of bad odours. Two manholes were found to have a considerable quantity of oil which should never have been dumped into the drainage system.

Waste Oils was suspected to be the culprit after an investigation that involved the Water Services Corporation, the planning authority and Transport Malta.

The company’s property was inspected in April 2009 and a flexible pipe, the ends of which were covered in oil similar to that found in the drainage system, was found connected to the company’s plant on one side and to an unused bathroom drain on the other.

Technical reports were drawn up and recommendations for steps to be taken against those responsible were made.

No action was taken and two years later, Labour MP Owen Bonnici submitted an official police complaint and the director and plant manager were charged in court this year.

The prosecution failed to prove its case because although the drainage close to the company was contaminated by a large quantity of oil it was not established from where this was coming.

In the past foul smells in the area also prompted planning authority employees who work at Hexagon House to evacuate the building.