Emissions from the planned waste incinerator should not exceed that generated from peak rush-hour traffic, according to government experts working on the project. 

“The European Commission sets limits on emissions for projects like this. So while the amount of emissions that this waste-to-energy facility will generate has not yet been established it cannot exceed that generated by peak traffic in the area,” Jean Luke Zarb, chief project manager at Wasteserv said.

According to a new report compiled by the government’s waste agency, the proposed €150 million incinerator plant will be built at the Magħtab landfill and will process 40% of all of Malta’s waste.

The project description report was passed on to the Environment and Resources Authority last week, firing the starting pistol on the lengthy process for permits that will eventually pave the way for the plant to be built.

The government estimates that the incinerator will begin burning Malta’s waste by around 2023, and the project is deemed essential if the island is to meet its EU-imposed waste management targets for that same year.

Read: EU urged to phase out mixed-waste incineration

Malta is seriously lagging behind on its targets, with only 15% of waste currently recycled – significantly short of the 60% target the island is meant to reach in five years.

A tenth of the country’s energy will soon come from burning waste

The government also has another problem it hopes the plant will solve – space.

At the current rate of landfilling the Magħtab site is expected to have reached capacity within the next two years. Doing nothing, experts fear, would see vast tracks of land taken up to make room for more dumping. 

Mr Zarb, who is leading the incinerator project, told The Sunday Times of Malta that a series of studies will now have to be commissioned and handed over to ERA as part of the Environmental Impact Assessment for the plant.

According to the Wasteserv report, a key study will be that on air dispersion to evaluate the impacts of emissions from the plant’s stack, and the cumulative effects over the years on residents in neighbouring localities.

While acknowledging that the issue of emissions was perhaps the most controversial aspect of the project – who wants to live next door to a chugging chimney? – Mr Zarb said the technology identified fell well within the safety parameters established by the EU.

The first study, he said, would seek to identify the current baseline for emissions in the area.

The plant will generate some 45 megawatts of electricity for the national grid every hour, meaning a tenth of the country’s energy will soon come from burning waste.

The facility will process an estimated 114,000 tons annually – some 365 tons every day, meaning two in every five bags of waste will end up being burnt. 

That does not mean, however, that the plant will be fed the entire contents of black or grey bags after these leave the island’s street corners. Recyclable materials will still be separated for recycling and Mr Zarb said the incinerator would instead be fed what is known as waste derived fuel – the combustible components of non-recyclable waste like certain plastics, paper cardboard, labels and other corrugated materials.

This, he said, was one of the main reasons the Magħtab landfill was chosen as the preferred site for the project. 

The fuel that the plant will run on is all processed nearby, and the power generated from the plant will be fed into the grid through the existing tunnels that run under the area for the Malta-Sicily interconnector.

Mr Zarb said the Magħtab site was also preferable as it was close to the sea which provided the ideal supply for the plant’s cooling system.

This does not mean other areas had not been considered. According to the Wasteserv report, experts had looked at the possibility of building an incinerator next to the Ta’ Barkat sewage treatment plant in Xgħajra, next to the Sant’ Antnin waste plant in Marsascala, near the Delimara power station, near the old abattoir in Marsa, and even at a number of industrial estates such as Luqa and Ħal Far.

“In the end we decided on Magħtab, an area that has long been committed to waste management,” Mr Zarb said.