A new State entity is being set up in preparation for the launch of the beverage container refund scheme which must be in place by next year in line with government’s commitment.

However, the overriding function of the Resource, Recovery and Recycling Agency, as it is called, will be to speed up Malta’s transition towards the circular economy. The latter is the term used to describe an economy geared towards reusing resources as much as possible and limiting waste disposal to a minimum.

Though the agency is not yet up and running, it has already been formally established through a legal notice published last month by the Environment Ministry. No announcements have been yet made on its structure.

Replying to questions from Times of Malta, a ministry spokesman confirmed that at the time of writing neither the CEO nor the members of the agency’s advisory board had been appointed. He added that apart from the beverage container refund scheme, aimed to promote the recycling of glass and plastic bottles, the agency would prepare a strategy on the circular economy. Such measure was necessary to reduce the dependency on landfills, he said.

According to official EU data, in 2016 Malta had the worst record of all member states in terms of municipal waste management, with just eight per cent being recycled or sent for composting. The rest is being disposed of at the Magħtab landfill.

In Malta the amount of waste generated annually per capita was of 647 kilos.

Though this was not the highest rate, with the respective value for Denmark being 777 kilos, the environmental impact in this Scandinavian country was much less than in Malta, as 99 per cent of the waste was either recycled, used for composting or disposed of through other means like incineration.  Under the EU targets, at least 55 per cent of municipal waste must be recycled by 2025, rising to 65 per cent by 2035. 

At the start of this year, the government announced that a waste-to-energy facility would be built at Magħtab with the capacity to process up to 40 per cent of Malta’s waste.

Works on the plant, whose cost is estimated to reach €150 million, are set to start next year, with the completion date set for 2023.