Residents living within a 1.5-kilometre radius of Marsascala’s Sant’Antnin waste treatment facility are in for a pleasant surprise.
With each unit costing the Government 16c, the rebate means a family of four will receive a cheque for €96
About 3,000 families living in the catchment zone – Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi excepted, as he has renounced his share – will each receive a credit note entitling them to 150 free units of electricity deductible from their next bill, as part of Wasteserv’s good neighbour scheme.
Only homes registered with utility billing company ARMS Ltd as private residential homes will receive the rebate, which Resources Minister George Pullicino said would be handed out once a year.
With each unit costing the Government 16c, the rebate means a family of four will receive a cheque for €96.
Sant’Antnin plant generates between 7,000 and 9,000 units of electricity every day from fermenting biodegradable waste. Most of that energy is used to power the facility itself.
Heat released by the fermentation process was also being put to good use, Wasteserv chairman Ben Farrugia was very keen to point out.
A two-kilometre-long, €375,000 pipeline stretching to the Inspire Foundation centre nearby channels heat from the treatment plant to Inspire’s pool, used by over 600 people requiring hydrotherapy.
Mr Pullicino said he was glad to see that the controversy over the €27 million Sant’ Antnin plant, which opened in 2008, had died down.
Besides generating heat and electricity, the Wasteserv facility also gathers recycled waste for export. In the 21 months between January 2011 and this September, 1,700 40-foot containers of recyclable rubbish had been gathered and packaged for export.
“All that waste would have otherwise ended up in a landfill,” the minister said, noting that by exporting the recyclables the Government had also pocketed €3 million.
But more needed to be done, he said. “We still treat only one-third of our waste, the rest goes to landfill. We need more recycling plants like this one, which is why we’re planning others such as that in Għallis.”
Members of the public can learn more about the Sant’Antnin plant by visiting it tomorrow between 10am and 4.30pm and taking a guided tour as part of Wasteserv’s 10th anniversary celebrations.
The family park adjacent to the plant, expected to open by March, spans 21 football pitches. It will include a rock climbing area, a hedge maze, football and picnic areas, an amphitheatre, stables and a petting farm.
Inspire and Wasteserv are discussing the possibility of jointly managing the park, which Inspire CEO Nathan Farrugia said would be a golden opportunity to better integrate people living with a disability into broader society.