A new waste management plant will cost around €150million and a team of experts and stakeholders have been given until the end of the year to select the preferred technology, Environment Minister Jose Herrera said today.

Addressing a press briefing, Dr Herrera said that if a waste-to-energy plant was not built soon, Malta would have to start using two football fields of land to dump its waste every year.

He noted that the Opposition had been invited to form part of the stakeholder team but that shadow minister Karol Aquilina had turned down the offer. 

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The Ghallis landfill is set to reach capacity within the next two years and earlier this week, Times of Malta reported that the government would be using a hazardous material dump to take ordinary waste until a new plant is built.

Dr Herrera this morning said the new plant was expected to be operational in around six to seven years.

Flanked by WasteServ CEO Tonio Montebello and waste consultant Mark Muscat, Dr Herrera said the plant would be tailor-built and relatively small compared to those seen in other larger EU member states.

He explained that the project would not likely be an incinerator in the conventional sense as "technology has come a long way".

The project he said, was expected to deal with around 40 per cent of the island's waste. The remaining 60 per cent would have to be managed through a wide range of measures, including investment in recycling and legal changes.