Thousands of tonnes of plastic and cardboard are being recycled every year from industry and civic amenity sites. This represents a massive volume that no longer needs to be landfilled but the company that handles the scrap plastic, CV Polymers, wants to expand operations to be able to deal with the larger amounts that are now being generated and collected.
However, Charles Brincat has been waiting for five years to be able to move into the factory at Hal Far allocated to him.
Mr Brincat got involved in plastic recycling 11-12 years ago, having spent over a decade working for a plastics factory. Although his qualifications were in business management, he was very aware of the amount of waste generated and had started a programme to recycle the company's own waste. Eventually, he set up on his own, realising that there was an important niche that could be exploited.
At the time, he used to collect industrial waste for free but soon started to pay for it as long as the company sorted it by type prior to collection, which was much more cost-effective.
The Malta Development Corporation was very sceptical at first but soon realised the viability of his scheme and allocated a site at Marsa (near Super One), which he still uses.
As plastics-based manufacturing took off, they too did the amount of scrap plastic.
"My favourite person is the quality control manager," he laughed.
"Plastic scrap" covers an incredible range of material. Last week, the company was processing truckloads of obsolete Coca Cola crates, huge sacks of plastic water bottles, rejected electronic component casings and computer parts, to name but a few.
It is hard to believe how many things these materials can be turned into. They are either melted or shredded, chopped or granulated - and then turned into a range of things. Did you know that your yoghurt pot ends up as the clear plastic mould used for toy and tool blister packs?
Mr Brincat tried to estimate how much plastic he saves from landfills: It is clearly thousands of tons.
"And imagine how much more beneficial it is from an environmental point of view to use these materials than to create plastic from scratch," he said.
"I do not handle waste; I create raw material."
The problem he now faces is the scourge of most SMEs: Success. The Marsa premises were adequate for years but he long ago ran out of space.
"The problem is that it takes almost two hours to switch a machine from one type of plastic to another. So the most efficient way to handle the waste is to wait until you have a big enough batch of it - but that takes space," he explained.
"And the forecourt at Marsa is not really big enough to take containers.
"The problem is that most clients have a minimum order quantity of one container; luckily I recently found one that accepts different types in one container, so it means I get a much faster turnaround."
Five years ago, Mr Brincat applied to Malta Enterprise to expand, planning to double his workforce of 10. His application was approved and he was eventually given a factory at Hal Far, for which he paid his Lm12,000 deposit. However, the machinery required a sub-station - and things got stuck at Malta Industrial Parks.
Two years later, environmental concerns had been highlighted by accession to the European Union and the closure of Maghtab. Wasteserv required someone to handle cardboard, and with the ME approval for the extension already in his hands, Mr Brincat spent Lm120,000 on a compacting machine, which ME linked temporarily to a nearby sub-station at a cost of Lm8,000. However, MIP pointed out that his permit was for plastics and not for cardboard and he had to reapply, being given a three-month permit. However, three years later, he is still waiting for the permanent green light from MIP.
This means he is in an uncomfortable limbo, using Hal Far for storage and for cardboard compacting but Marsa for his operations, trucking materials between the two sites.
Without the MIP permit, he cannot get a permit from the Malta Environmental and Planning Authority, which means he cannot get water or electricity connections. He has already invested over Lm20,000 in a loading bay - but he believes he could do so much more...
In the meantime, Wasteserv is collecting even more cardboard through its civic amenity sites for CV Polymers to handle. And he buys from them waste like broken sunbeds, detergent bottles and jerry cans, television housings and computers, shrink-wrapping and polystyrene and expanded car bumpers.
"There are many types of plastic but they are split into a few main types - and factories can tell you exactly which one they use. The names are exotic: low density polyethylene or high impact polystyrene, but it is really like making several types of different cake from the same basic ingredients."
The result is around two to three container loads, each weighing 20-24 tonnes, sent mainly to the Far East, but also to Israel, Germany, the UK and Italy.
"It is very disheartening. There is such a demand for this type of waste recycling - not only in Malta but also overseas. Libya would be able to provide us with 10 times as much waste as we handle. Imagine the jobs that would create...
"But I cannot even begin to imagine the bureaucracy - even though we are only talking about inert waste!"
However, Charles Brincat has been waiting for five years to be able to move into the factory at Hal Far allocated to him.
Mr Brincat got involved in plastic recycling 11-12 years ago, having spent over a decade working for a plastics factory. Although his qualifications were in business management, he was very aware of the amount of waste generated and had started a programme to recycle the company's own waste. Eventually, he set up on his own, realising that there was an important niche that could be exploited.
At the time, he used to collect industrial waste for free but soon started to pay for it as long as the company sorted it by type prior to collection, which was much more cost-effective.
The Malta Development Corporation was very sceptical at first but soon realised the viability of his scheme and allocated a site at Marsa (near Super One), which he still uses.
As plastics-based manufacturing took off, they too did the amount of scrap plastic.
"My favourite person is the quality control manager," he laughed.
"Plastic scrap" covers an incredible range of material. Last week, the company was processing truckloads of obsolete Coca Cola crates, huge sacks of plastic water bottles, rejected electronic component casings and computer parts, to name but a few.
It is hard to believe how many things these materials can be turned into. They are either melted or shredded, chopped or granulated - and then turned into a range of things. Did you know that your yoghurt pot ends up as the clear plastic mould used for toy and tool blister packs?
Mr Brincat tried to estimate how much plastic he saves from landfills: It is clearly thousands of tons.
"And imagine how much more beneficial it is from an environmental point of view to use these materials than to create plastic from scratch," he said.
"I do not handle waste; I create raw material."
The problem he now faces is the scourge of most SMEs: Success. The Marsa premises were adequate for years but he long ago ran out of space.
"The problem is that it takes almost two hours to switch a machine from one type of plastic to another. So the most efficient way to handle the waste is to wait until you have a big enough batch of it - but that takes space," he explained.
"And the forecourt at Marsa is not really big enough to take containers.
"The problem is that most clients have a minimum order quantity of one container; luckily I recently found one that accepts different types in one container, so it means I get a much faster turnaround."
Five years ago, Mr Brincat applied to Malta Enterprise to expand, planning to double his workforce of 10. His application was approved and he was eventually given a factory at Hal Far, for which he paid his Lm12,000 deposit. However, the machinery required a sub-station - and things got stuck at Malta Industrial Parks.
Two years later, environmental concerns had been highlighted by accession to the European Union and the closure of Maghtab. Wasteserv required someone to handle cardboard, and with the ME approval for the extension already in his hands, Mr Brincat spent Lm120,000 on a compacting machine, which ME linked temporarily to a nearby sub-station at a cost of Lm8,000. However, MIP pointed out that his permit was for plastics and not for cardboard and he had to reapply, being given a three-month permit. However, three years later, he is still waiting for the permanent green light from MIP.
This means he is in an uncomfortable limbo, using Hal Far for storage and for cardboard compacting but Marsa for his operations, trucking materials between the two sites.
Without the MIP permit, he cannot get a permit from the Malta Environmental and Planning Authority, which means he cannot get water or electricity connections. He has already invested over Lm20,000 in a loading bay - but he believes he could do so much more...
In the meantime, Wasteserv is collecting even more cardboard through its civic amenity sites for CV Polymers to handle. And he buys from them waste like broken sunbeds, detergent bottles and jerry cans, television housings and computers, shrink-wrapping and polystyrene and expanded car bumpers.
"There are many types of plastic but they are split into a few main types - and factories can tell you exactly which one they use. The names are exotic: low density polyethylene or high impact polystyrene, but it is really like making several types of different cake from the same basic ingredients."
The result is around two to three container loads, each weighing 20-24 tonnes, sent mainly to the Far East, but also to Israel, Germany, the UK and Italy.
"It is very disheartening. There is such a demand for this type of waste recycling - not only in Malta but also overseas. Libya would be able to provide us with 10 times as much waste as we handle. Imagine the jobs that would create...
"But I cannot even begin to imagine the bureaucracy - even though we are only talking about inert waste!"