A pharmaceuticals factory in Ħal Far has been using an area outside of the boundary allowed by its operational permit to dispose of hazardous material.

The factory in Ħal Far: Sterling Chemical Malta Limited has been granted an extended deadline for prevention and control of pollution at the high-risk installation.

The activity has raised concerns about potential pollution at the head of a protected valley, Wied Żnuber, with one environment group voicing fears of an “eco-disaster”.

The environment watchdog, the Environment and Resources Authority, spotted the activity in April and is closely monitoring the factory, which belongs to Sterling Chemical Malta Ltd.

The ERA issued an operational permit to Sterling in 2015. The permit – issued by its IPPC unit which monitors high-risk installations – carries conditions which prescribe integrated pollution prevention and control at the factory. Installations are normally given four years to reach compliance.

The current operating permit for the factory, which produces steroids and hormones, comes up for review next August. Plans for extensions on either side of the existing factory at Ħal Far will require an environmental impact statement.

Yet, in April this year, the IPPC unit within ERA noted that the factory was operating a newly-built “temporary” waste area outside of the permitted site boundary in breach of IPPC permit conditions.

Not only was hazardous waste being stored outside the designated area but no “bunding” structure was in place to prevent chemicals from escaping into the environment, in case storage containers leak or burst.

A groundwater risk assessment report carried out last August recommend fitting a sump with a locked valve to an existing rainwater pipe draining into the road which runs along the top of Wied Żnuber. A September deadline for this preventative measure came and went.

Another inspection by the unit in October found the valve had not been fitted. The IPPC unit then ordered all rainwater drain outlets “to immediately be locked with a lockable valve and/or sealed.”

The company has now been given until the end of the year to ensure that only clean rainwater can ever be discharged into the outside environment from its chemical plant.

Opting for slow but sure improvements to containment of hazardous waste, the IPPC unit has accepted the present arrangement as an “intermediary solution”.

A recent “improvement programme” urges that emergency plans should be amended to cover “new emissions to air” from the premises. The ERA is also calling for further improvements to make the factory compliant with the EU directive on medium-sized combustion plants.

The company has now been given until the end of the year to ensure that only clean rainwater can ever be discharged

An updated emergency plan to cover the expansion of permitted activities must be in place by the end of this month. The deadline for the factory to monitor its own pollution using the best available techniques is June 2020. 

During a two-week public consultation window, the Birżebbuġa Environmental Action Group voiced its concerns over “variations” to the existing permit at Sterling.

A major worry for the group is the risk posed by surface run-off after rains to the “delicate” Wied Żnuber valley. The group fears that an “irreversible eco-disaster through the potential release of Sterling’s currently uncontrolled mutagenic liquid hazardous wastes” could occur.

Chemical substances classified as mutagens can cause genetic mutations.

However, the environment authority told the group that “there is no direct connection from the temporary waste management area to Wied Żnuber”.

The pharmaceutical company intends to replace the sub-standard waste storage area with a “fully contained” new warehouse for storage of flammable waste material next year, under a separate IPPC application.

Annual reports to the IPPC unit generally show improvement over the years, although there have been incidents. No major incidents have been recorded at the Sterling Chemical plant so far but other companies handling chemicals have reported the occasional episode to the permitting unit in the past.

Corrective action had to be taken at one chemical plant when a hazardous waste container was punctured by a fork-lifter in poor lighting conditions. Repeat training of responsible personnel was one of several responses to the accident by the company in question.

ERA archives also reveal that a 2009 explosion at another chemical plant in Bulebel saw the collapse of a reservoir ceiling caused by waste-water reaching the reservoir when a pump was disconnected. Corrective measures included “tighter access control to the plant” according to the Bulebel company. 

IPPC permits have been issued for waste management, power generation and production of pharmaceuticals since 2005. The cost of ERA inspections doubles if a company is not in possession of an environmental management certificate recognised by the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority. 

The unit appears to be understaffed and overloaded, with IPPC applications made five years ago still being processed and not yet opened up for public consultation.