Reports of renewed waste dumping at Wied Fulija, in Żurrieq, were confirmed by the Environment Ministry, which said the material would be removed within a month.
Rubbish dumping in the valley was meant to be stopped permanently in 2004 but Times of Malta has received several eyewitness accounts of new waste being dumped there in recent weeks.
When this newspaper visited the site, recently dumped waste was immediately visible as the old part of the dump site was completely covered in grass. When asked for an explanation, the Environment Ministry said the waste was being stored there “temporarily”. The material could be used as backfill for roadworks undertaken in nearby Triq il-Pluvieri, it said.
“This helps avoid unnecessary landfilling of material that can be reused. Works at Triq il-Pluvieri are now nearing completion and the material will be removed from Wied Fulija within a month,” the ministry added.
Dumping at the site was to be stopped in 2004
It committed to removing any unused material to approved dumping sites within that time frame.
Environment Minister Leo Brincat pointed out that, in the last Budget, the government committed itself to implementing a rehabilitation project on the old dump site.
WasteServ, the company responsible for handling the country’s waste management, was having talks with the planning authority for capping the landfill, the extraction of any remaining gases and the landscaping of the area, the ministry said.
Wied Fulija was used as a dump site between 1979 and 1996. In 2004, when Malta joined the EU, it pledged to close the dump and turn it into a recreational park. But Wied Fulija continued to make headlines from time to time as renewed dumping occurred.
In 2009, Joseph Muscat, then Opposition leader, complained about the dumping of large quantities of glass at the site under the former administration. Mr Brincat also complained about glass waste being stored on-site without a permit.
The controversy lasted some three years, until there was a sufficient amount of waste to export for recycling.