Malta has one of the lowest landfill charges in the EU, according to a recent report issued by the European Commission.

Currently, for every ton of waste that enters the Għallis landfill, Wasteserv charges €20 while the government subsidises the rest of the cost, currently amounting to an additional €5 per ton. This contrasts sharply with much of the EU where landfill rates are as high as €155 per ton in Sweden.

Malta has the third lowest landfill charge in the bloc, with only Portugal and Slovakia having lower costs (see table).

Landfilling is considered to be the worst form of waste treatment that exists. Still, EU officials told The Times the Commission was observing substantial progress in the island’s waste management, even though precise data was still being compiled.

“Since the introduction of the €20 landfill fee, less waste is entering the landfill and this means the levy is having the desired effect,” the spokesman said.

Introduced in Malta in 2009, the landfill charge was part of a silent revolution in the island’s waste management, aimed at diverting the treatment of waste towards more environment-friendly systems.

Through the investment in multimillion euro projects, including the upgrading of the Sant’ Antnin biological waste treatment plant, bring-in sites, schemes for the collection of separate waste and civic amenity sites, less waste is going into landfills.

To incentivise re-use and recycling, the government halved an already low fee for waste entering recycling facilities from €1 per ton to just 50c.

Only a few weeks ago, the Commission report showed that although Malta had made substantial progress in the waste management area, it still considered the island to be a laggard among the 27.

However, the Rural Affairs Ministry had clarified that the Commission’s assessment was based on 2010 and did not include the recent waste treatment plants which have come on stream since then.