Recycled waste, dismissed as "rejects" because of contamination, is being shipped to incineration plants in China and the Far East.
Resources Minister George Pullicino said in an interview with The Sunday Times: "Most of our recycled material is being shipped abroad to be thermally treated in China."
Thermal treatment refers to energy recovered from incinerated waste.
Pressed for clarification on what portion of separated waste is actually being exported for incineration, rather than being recycled, the ministry said it was the "rejects" emerging from the process of sorting separated waste.
"The percentage of material recovered for recycling depends on the extent of contamination of separated waste, mainly received from the bring-in sites and the grey bags waste collection system," ministry Permanent Secretary Chris Ciantar said.
Currently, some 10 per cent of the material collected is classified as Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF). This portion is sent for incineration in the Far East. Asked why this was being exported to Asia rather than neighbouring countries, Dr Ciantar said: "All material recovered from waste is put up for sale by Wasteserv.
"The market will determine the final destination of these products... the demand to generate electrical energy is more intense in Asia."
The environmental standards in these countries are generally lower than they are in the EU, which could explain why prices in the Asian market are more competitive.
"The RDF material is generally sold after offers are received through the process of an open tender. The most advantageous bid is selected... Wasteserv has a considerable amount of RDF stored, awaiting a better offer in the next round of tendering process," he added.
Currently, the amount of separated waste stands at about 5.7 per cent, according to the waste management strategy launched recently for public consultation. In actual fact, Malta should be recycling a minimum of 25 per cent of its total waste stream, according to EU targets (see table above).
By 2013, Malta needs to recycle 55 to 80 per cent of its waste or face penalties. The ministry believes the targets can be achieved through increased public co-operation.
There are various problems related to increasing the volume of recycled waste. Those listed by the ministry include that local councils must contribute to the recycling targets as the waste 'resides' with them, landfill fees that are very cheap providing no incentive to recycle, and industry that needs to share recycling targets.
"We need industry to better organise itself. Fragmentation does not help; economies of scale dictate co-operation among packaging waste producers. Such co-operation is difficult to come by," the ministry said.
The waste management strategy makes it clear Malta has to increase the amount of waste recycled. An incinerator is planned for Delimara to handle the portion of waste that will not be recycled.
The ministry has said the incinerator will handle the remaining 20 per cent of the waste, based on the premise that Malta will be recycling 80 per cent, the maximum recycling target set.
If the country succeeds in meeting its minimum recycling targets and recycles 55 per cent of its waste by 2013, then the amount of waste fed to the incinerator would actually be more than 20 per cent.
Asked whether this could be the case, Dr Ciantar said: "The rejects, rest of the material that is neither recycled nor digested will go for thermal treatment if it has a high calorific value."
Scientific studies show that the thermal process in waste incineration has the potential of creating health and environmental hazards, unless rigorously controlled.