Soft drinks in glass bottles may become history earlier than expected after the government decided to end the present waste packaging regime on Monday, a couple of weeks ahead of the EU deadline.

On a request by the industry itself, which is all geared up for the shift, the Environment Ministry accepted to speed up the removal of the ban on non-alcoholic drinks in plastic and aluminium containers, a ministry spokesman said.

"It's only two weeks but it's also a way for the government to show goodwill in return for the effort the industry is making to come to an agreement on packaging waste management," he said.

Early last month, in fact, leading private sector representatives signed an agreement that should pave the way for a packaging waste recycling scheme that would bring Malta in line with the EU's packaging waste directive.

In theory, the move does not force local manufacturers to bottle their beverages in the lighter and less labour-intensive plastic or aluminium containers but in practice both the industry and policy makers are well aware that market preferences will sway production away from glass.

Over the past years, in fact, the big manufacturers have been investing heavily into changing their infrastructure and a number of wholesalers are already said to be poised to import new products such as canned soft drinks.

The result is likely to be a dramatic increase in the stream of packaging waste but the scheme being discussed by the private sector representatives should help put in place a waste collection system that will absorb this influx.

The system is likely to be up and running by March, a source had told The Times, yet the government had promised it would be implementing stop-gap solutions specifically aimed at the new stream of plastic bottles.