An empty hazardous waste dump in Maghtab will soon start to be used as a landfill after the government established that it would not be able to build an incinerator before the Għallis landfill is full.
Government waste management experts told the Times of Malta that while the 55-metre deep Għallis landfill will reach capacity within the next 18 to 24 months. It would take around six years for a new incinerator or alternative waste plant to be operational.
“That leaves us with a gap of a few years with nowhere to put our waste. Luckily we have another site which we can use for landfilling and which has a three-year capacity to tide us over,” the government experts said.
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The backup site in Magħtab was initially built as a dump for asbestos and other dangerous materials. Since this waste is regularly shipped off the island, however, it remains virtually empty.
The experts said the government long ago identified the dump as a stopgap in case the main landfill reached capacity before an alternative waste system could be introduced.
“We always knew this landfill was there, so we knew that if our backs were against the wall, we wouldn’t have bags piling up outside people’s front doors,” the experts, who work in the Environment Ministry said.
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The ministry experts told the Times of Malta that the government has long been grappling with the island’s waste management infrastructure, developing a plan while dealing with day-to-day garbage needs.
No matter how much we recycle, we have to keep landfilling
Government sources said the problem first came up in the early 2000s, when experts warned of the consequences of exclusive dependence on landfilling.
In 2008, a top Austrian waste consultancy firm was called in to study the local situation.
The experts said a report gave the government three options: export the waste, which at nearly €500 per ton was immediately ruled out as too expensive; build an incinerator or alternative thermal energy system; or introduce biological treatment plants.
The latter option was taken on board, and the Sant Antnin plant and the Malta North were born.
The sources were quick to add that it was clear early on that these biological plants were never going to be a final solution to the island’s waste dilemma.
“So, in 2013 another consultancy firm was called in to look at the best options for technology known as waste recovery – a form of incinerator alternative to help process waste,” they said, leafing through a report handed to the government some four years ago.
The conclusions, they said, were simple: Malta will need a “waste management mix” to deal with waste sustainably.
“We are going to have to aim for an equal mix of landfilling, waste-to-energy conversion and recycling. This is the best sustainable model,” the experts said.
To achieve this, Malta will have to more than double its recycling efforts, currently at 12 per cent of all waste generated, and come up with a new landfilling option.
“No matter how much we increase recycling – which will have to be considerable – we are still going to have to continue landfilling,” the sources said.
They added that the government would soon embark on a “big push” on recycling, launching a number of measures to encourage households.