A new door-to-door glass collection service will be held every first Friday of the month in localities operating under the Green Pak scheme. In Gozo, the service will operate every first Thursday of the month.

Parliamentary Secretary for Culture and Local Government José Herrera welcomed the Green Pak initiative, arguing that recycling in Malta was still below European thresholds.

Dr Herrera said that up to a few years ago no one bothered to separate waste, but now the situation was totally different. Not only do we need to raise more awareness about recycling but we have to find ways and means how to increase the amount of recycled waste so as not to be left behind other European countries.

Green Pak Coop Society CEO Mario Schembri said locality waste management played a critical part in Malta’s national recycling effort: “The new glass collection scheme is another step to increase the recovery of recyclable materials in a more sustainable and feasible way.”

According to the latest NSO figures, 3,200 tonnes of glass waste are generated every year by the 35 localities served by Green Pak.

“This mass is ending in landfills and occupies 5,000 cubic metres, or the equivalent of three storeys covering a medium-sized square in Malta or Gozo. We shall aim to reduce and divert away from landfills at least 60 per cent of this amount, but to achieve this target everyone needs to do their part,” explained Mr Schembri.

Paola mayor Roderick Spiteri said his council had taken a proactive approach in terms of recycling and sustainable approaches.

Besides working jointly with Green Pak to provide local NGOs, clubs and schools with recycling bags, and terminating the black bags collection on Tuesdays, “we are reusing some of the glass collected as aggregate for the construction of pavements”.

Green Pak’s recycling advisers, who are currently visiting households to explain the new glass collection service, will be asking residents to place their waste glass in cardboard boxes behind their doors.

Upon collection, these cardboard boxes will be left behind the door to be used once again. Furthermore, each household will be receiving a free roll of recycling bags for plastic, paper and metal for Green Pak’s Recycling on Tuesdays door-to-door collection.

As the largest waste recovery scheme in Malta, with 34 out of 68 local councils opting for its waste management scheme, Green Pak continuously endeavours to instill awareness in the communities it services to recycle more plastic, metal, glass and paper through the wide range of services it offers. These include recycling bags kerbside collections, bring-in sites and specific material collections, such as for cardboard and now glass.

Green Pak Coop Society’s scheme is authorised by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority and backed by PRO Europe, an umbrella organisation of 35 national producer responsibility systems engaged in the selective collection and recycling of packaging waste.

For further enquiries regarding the new collection scheme, bring-in sites and other information of interest, call Green Pak on 2166 0233 or e-mail info@greenpak.com.mt.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.