PN leader Adrian Delia should immediately revise his and his party’s decision not to take part in a committee on the future strategy for waste, the Labour Party said.
The Nationalist Party has decided to opt out of a technical committee tasked with evaluating a process to transform waste to energy.
It said that the fact that Dr Delia replied to the Prime Minister’s appeal last Sunday with partisan rhetoric did not augur well.
In spite of this, the PL remained positive and again appealed to Dr Delia to revise his decision and take a decision in the interest of the country.
It said this was a sector in which decisions taken now would have a long-term impact over several days so every decision taken should be in the interest of the country.
In another statement, Alternattiva Demokratika said that the government's decision to operate a waste incinerator was a declaration that its waste management strategy had failed. In particular, it failed in the objective of reducing waste generation, as well as the objective of separating and recycling waste.
Only 12% of waste generated was recycled in the Maltese islands. With an incinerator to burn 40% of waste, the objective to reduce waste generation would be thwarted because of the amounts of waste necessary to feed the incinerator, AD said.
It said that without a continuous stream of waste the incinerator proposed could not be operated and the creation of businesses that recycled and extracted resources from waste would be nipped in the bud.
This was contrary to the concept of a circular economy. The target of an incinerator that swallowed 40% of waste was high and indicated that the government was unable to reach the targets achieved by other countries, AD said.