A group of around 20 Magħtab farmers have come out in strong opposition to plans by Wasteserv to expand the Magħtab landfill as it would result in the direct loss of arable land.
Last week, farmers in the Għallis area found notices from waste managment company Wasteserv on their properties informing them that officials will be accessing the property to conduct studies to determine whether it was required for public acquisition.
Farmers said they were left in shock and anger that their trade was under threat from the nearby landfill.
“This is my livelihood,” Joseph Sammut, who has already seen the loss of 20 tumoli of his land to the civic amenity site, said.
“They have already taken so much. If they take everything that they say they need, then they will destroy Għallis.”
Mr Sammut is facing the prospect of losing a further three tumoli of land, where he grows crops and a small orchard. He also fears the encroaching landfill would mean the growing presence of rats among his fields and greater chances of sickness and crop failure.
“Everyone says we have to take care of the environment; well it’s the bigwigs at the top who should be following their own advice,” Mr Sammut said.
“Farmers take care of the environment; we plant things, we till the soil. Nobody benefits from this destruction.”
Carmel Grech, whose family have farmed in Għallis for four generations, said that a lot of hard work and investment was going down the drain.
“This is disappointing because only three years ago we were told by the government that they wouldn’t be taking up anymore land in Magħtab,” Mr Grech said.
“I put a lot of time and effort into my work; I rebuild the rubble walls... I till the land to farm. If someone had told me ‘listen, in five to 10 years we’re going to need this’, I wouldn’t have bothered. Really, it feels like I have been deceived.”
Mr Grech grows an extensive wheat field and runs a broiler and sheep farm in Għallis, and estimates he will lose around 40 tumoli of land to the project. He and others echo concerns that the growing dump will negatively impact crops and herds they grow for food.
“We are all worried about our farms. If they’re going to expand into all of that space then we’re going to literally be rearing animals on top of a landfill. It would be a big loss for us in so many ways.”
A spokesperson for the Environment Ministry confirmed expansion plans for Magħtab that would grow the plant to include a waste to energy facility, a hazardous waste thermal treatment facility, a skip loading facility, a composting facility and an organic processing plant.
The project is expected to take up 268,000m2 or 247 tumoli.
Wasteserv will also be returning land in Wied Fulija and Qortin landfills, which will be redesigned as recreational zones.
The spokesperson said that waste was an ongoing issue with no overnight catch-all solution but that the expansion plans would centralise state of the art plants and improve waste processing.