WASTE SEPARATION IS THE KEY TO WASTE MANAGEMENT

While speaking during a public lecture organised by Friends of the Earth, on the subject of "A Sustainable Waste Strategy and the European Union", the Minister for the Environment, Dr. Francis Zammit Dimech said that the debate about the Development of an Integrated Solid Waste Management Strategy for the Maltese Islands is now half way through. He said that he was pleased to note the interest that the civil society is showing in this strategy which he augured will help the government solve the solid waste problems that have piled up along the years. He said that he was pleased to note the interest the various NGOs are showing in this subject. He thanked the Friends of the Earth for their initiative and augured that the various suggestions and recommendations that the Reviewing Committee receives will help it to be in a position to formulate the best Integrated Solid Waste Management Strategy for the Maltese islands.

The Minister for the Environment said that one crucial key to the waste management problem is waste separation. He said that the draft report prepared by Carl Bro gives interesting data about the waste types, quantities and flows in 2000. Out of about 1.3 million tons of waste produced last year

• 155,000 tons were household waste;
• 29,500 tons trade waste;
• 3,000 tons port waste;
• 95,250 tons industrial waste;
• 950,000 tons rock, stone, and a mixture of construction and demolition waste; and
• 29,800 tons of waste from Gozo.

Minister Francis Zammit Dimech said that the major part of this waste, 1,157,195 tons, were deposited at Maghtab, 31,500 tons were composted at the Sant’ Antnin Plant, 22,050 tons were recyled, 1,250 tons were incinerated at the Hospital and Drydocks incinerators and 19,700 tons were dumped at sea.

The Minister for the Environment said that these figures give the exact magnitude of the waste problem. He said that the present government is committed to follow a waste hierarchy based on an order of priorities based on

1. Waste prevention and waste reduction
2. Reuse
3. Recyling
4. Recovery, and
5. Disposal

Dr. Francis Zammit Dimech noted that since the greatest part of our solid waste, over 80 per cent, is inert waste the major problem that must be solved is the disposal of rock, stone, construction and demolition waste. He said that stone is the only raw material produced in these islands. Stone production will not last forever and for this reason it is Government’s policy to reuse and recycle as much as possible of this type of waste. Government is also committed to rehabilitate quarries which are no longer in use and which are an eyesore on our environment. The rest of this inert waste should be utilised to reclaim parts of our coastline as happened with the Terminal 2 Project at the Freeport, or to construct small islands off the mainland, provided that the necessary environmental safeguards are adopted.

The Minister for the Environment said that Government intends to utilise to a greater degree the Sant’Antnin Composting Plant in a way that a higher percentage of the household waste is reused. At present this plant is processing around 30,000 tons per annum. In future it should process about 80,000 tons. At the same time well designed and managed facilities for the final disposal of waste should be secured. New landfill facilities should be established for the disposal of pre-treated non-inert and non hazardous wastes and for the disposal of certain hazardous wastes.

The Minister for the Environment said that Government intends to go strictly by target dates in a way that everybody is informed how the integrated solid waste management strategy develops. He said that he did not mention thermal treatment and the recovery of energy from non-recyclable non-hazardous combustible waste and process residues, not to evade this problem but because even the Carl Bro Report mentions that such a facility, if needed, will be required to meet the later targets in 2013 and 2020. He said that since the work on the construction of such a facility will need to commence about the year 2010 we still have all the time to study further the cleanest and best technology available.

Minister Francis Zammit Dimech said that Government intends to develop the best integrated solid waste management strategy for our country because the Maltese people deserve the best environmental levels imaginable. Government wants European Union standards for the local environment because the European Union leads the way in environmental issues and Malta deserves no less.