Proper waste management

The Malta Labour Party's spokesman on infrastructural services, Joe Mizzi, camouflages his own diversions from the truth by attempting to claim (August 4) that my ministry's decisions to rectify waste management are an aberration that call for a timely and justified inquiry.

When the Ministry for Resources and Infrastructure issued the project description statement (PDS) for the long-term controlled engineered landfill (April 2002), Mr Mizzi cried foul (The Sunday Times - April 21 and May 26, 2002). Then he claimed that the choice of Ghallis and Benghajsa, as potential sites for a long-term landfill, went against all international regulations on landfilling of waste. Recently, his leader confirmed that the Labour administration had considered both Ghallis and Benghajsa as preferred sites (The Sunday Times - August 3). Then Mr Mizzi must have been unaware of all this and thought of gaining some political mileage ahead of the recent election.

With regards to the three issues Mr Mizzi claims call for an immediate investigation, it may be said that:

1) The 2002 PDS, which Mr Mizzi refers to, was issued for the long-term controlled engineered facility and not for the interim facility. The seven sites (mentioned by Mr Mizzi) were for a 20-year project. It would have been inappropriate to consider a site having a two-and-a-half year void (Mnajdra quarries) for a 20-year project. It is for this reason that the Mnajdra quarries are not mentioned in the PDS of 2002.

With Ghallis chosen as the preferred site for the long-term facility, a need is felt for an interim period for the controlled landfilling of waste. This is because the excavation of material required to develop a controlled engineered landfill at Ghallis will delay progress. Now, a site with a much smaller capacity (that is, for the interim period) is required. Therefore, the sites considered for the 20-year facility (those appearing in the PDS of 2002) were too large to be considered and a separate study was commissioned. This study identified sufficient void for a two-and-a-half year operation at a quarry which is disused and which lies outside the water protection zone. The only site with these characteristics is that commonly referred to as the Mnajdra quarries. Here again it must be stated that in 1996 the Labour government had short-listed these sites as part of their 16 possible sites to be developed into a dump (mizbla) and not a controlled engineered landfill.

A separate PDS for this interim controlled engineered facility has recently been published and is now being viewed for consultation ahead of the environmental impact assessment (EIA).

2) Mr Mizzi should know that there is nothing premature when one refers to landfills being "in conformity with best practice and according to Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste". This is also stated boldly in the PDS issued by my ministry.

The EIA will not be presented for approval until the detailed designs, which the EIA consultants themselves (SLR of the UK) will prepare, are finalised. In this way the designs and the EIA will be developed concurrently so that information from the EIA is reflected into the design and vice-versa. Going through this process ensures that whatever is said about the project will not affect its integrity. The EIA will take its course and will be prepared in its entirety within the stipulated timeframe.

3) The redimensioning of the quarry sides to accommodate the liner system for the controlled landfilling of waste may be done by rock cutting, by partially infilling the quarry void with inert material to obtain the required slope (no rock cutting needed in this case) or by a combination of both. Whichever of the three techniques utilised, it will be studied exhaustively in the EIA.

It is for this reason that the PDS issued for this project dwells in detail on this issue. All the necessary scientific analysis will be undertaken to ensure that the operations during landfill development and operation are not incompatible with the surroundings.

Mr Mizzi yet again fails to present an alternative solution but takes pride in trying to identify shortcomings. He realises that this is a process that is intense and sensitive to public opinion. Irrespective of what the agenda of the opposition is, this process has begun and will lead Malta to experience proper management of waste, a modus operandi which is in sharp contrast when compared to the present day systems of dumps' creations.

Mr Zammit is minister for resources and infrastructure.