Bingeing on food at Christmastime creates weight issues but it makes Wasteserv CEO Tonio Montebello a very happy man.
More food on the table also means more food scraps in the dustbin and this is a boon for the Marsascala recycling plant.
“The higher amount of food in household waste at this time of the year helps increase the efficiency of the composting facility from which electricity is generated,” Mr Montebello said yesterday after accompanying Environment Minister Leo Brincat for a visit to the facility. The plant’s electricity generation capacity is severely hampered by the low quality of waste that makes it to the facility. Organic waste, such as food, is digested and turned into compost in a process that generates gas.
The gas is then burnt to create electricity but this is only possible if the quality of the gas is good. “The amount of electricity generated by the Marsascala plant is erratic and way below expectations because the quality of waste entering the facility is poor,” Mr Montebello said.
The amount of electricity generated by the Marsascala plant is erratic and way below expectations
It is for this reason that families in four localities will in the new year start experimenting with the use of a third recycling garbage bag at home for organic waste.
The exercise will serve as a pilot project to determine the success or otherwise of encouraging families to stop mixing food waste with other non-organic waste.
Mr Brincat said talks were under way to identify the localities that will participate in the project.
“We have to ensure the localities are big enough to give us meaningful results,” he said, adding the government favoured gradual change rather than a big bang approach.
The exercise will see families splitting household waste into three garbage bags: recyclable, mixed and organic. Addressing workers at the facility, Mr Brincat said a training centre for Wasteserv employees would be set up next year.
He also lauded the successful conclusion of a collective agreement between the waste agency’s management and the Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin.
Mr Brincat said the biggest problem was to ensure discrepancies between wages and conditions of workers in the same category were removed. This was an injustice allowed to fester for years, he added.
kurt.sansone@timesofmalta.com