More than 17,000 tonnes of recyclable materials were collected at the Sant'Antnin Waste Treatment Plant last year, WasteServ said.

It said that more than 50 per cent of the amount originated from the door-to-door collection of grey bags.

"In absolute terms, recyclable waste from grey bags increased from 9,233 tonnes in 2010 to 9,719 tonnes in 2011, equivalent to a five per cent increase. The month registering the highest amount of recyclable waste entering the plant was August, while December registered the lowest tonnage."

The five localities which collected most recyclable waste in 2011 through the ‘Recycle Tuesday’ initiative were Birkirkara, Mosta, Qormi, Sliema and Naxxar. 

In addition to plastic, paper and metal from grey bags, the plant also treated over 7,000 tonnes of dry recyclables separated at source. This includes waste coming from hotels, schools, government departments and bring-in sites.

Between January and December last year WasteServ sold almost 15,000 tonnes of materials collected at Sant'Antnin and over 600 containers were exported by the private sector for recycling overseas.