Out of every €5 families spend on food, about €1 is thrown away, prompting the authorities to embark on an aggressive educational campaign to address this waste.
One of the measures being proposed is television spots to inform people how they can cook using leftovers. This would not only address the environment, as it would contribute to a reduction of waste, but would also serve to help families to throw less food away, Environment Minister Leo Brincat said yesterday.
This will involve a change in behaviour and mentality
“This will involve a change in behaviour and mentality and we know it’s not going to be easy,” he said.
He was speaking during the launch of the final draft of the waste management plan for 2014-2020.
Mr Brincat said that, according to NSO statistics, 22 per cent of the food purchased in Malta is being thrown away.
The aim was to reduce this wastage to at least 15 per cent.
Apart from the educational spots, the government is proposing having specialised people in supermarkets advising customers on their consumption patterns.
Mr Brincat said an expression of interest was issued for an “aggressive” educational campaign aimed at reducing the amount of waste produced by families.
It will focus on different age groups, also taking into account educational and social backgrounds. A sum of €40,000 has been allocated to the campaign but Mr Brincat said efforts were being made to get a bigger slice of the budget.
He said that while the government was focusing on cutting the amount of waste ending up in landfills, it would soon start a process to identify a new site for a new engineered landfill.
It was also studying the possibility of extending the lifespan of the present engineered landfill at Għallis, which is expected to reach saturation point in about five years’ time.
Mr Brincat excluded increasing the capacity of the Sant’Antnin waste treatment plant, saying the government preferred focusing on improving the quality of waste going to landfills through greater separation at source.
With regard to construction waste, Mr Brincat said disused quarries would continue being used adding that plans were under way to incentivise re-use of such material.
Referring to complaints about eco-contribution and the unfairness of some paying it and others abusing, Mr Brincat said discussions on a review of the present regime were under way, especially to address the issue of electric and electronic waste.
He discounted the possibility of a tax on waste ending up at the landfill, quoting studies showing such a move could be counterproductive as it could lead to more illegal dumping.
He said the plan was to decrease the collection of non-separated waste to just once a week from the current three and have three weekly collections of organic waste. The government also intended introducing a night waste collection service but this depended on the locality.
Mr Brincat said the government wanted to have the waste management plan discussed in Parliament.