Scrapyard told to clear ‘excessive waste’ a month before inferno

The environment watchdog warned a Marsa scrapyard operator to clear excessive waste and properly depollute and dismantle vehicles just one month before a massive fire tore through the site last November.

During an October site visit, Environmental and Resources Authority (ERA) inspectors noted that the site was overwhelmed with waste and improperly dismantled cars.

Scrapyard operators are required to remove oil, fuel and other flammable fluids from cars, and dismantle all their parts and segregate them because most components – such as tyres, seats, upholstery, rubber and lamps – are flammable and could help even a small fire to escalate into uncontrollable infernos.

The JAC Steel scrapyard, situated on Giuseppe Garibaldi Street, caught fire in a blaze that was even visible from space. The massive flames forced employers in the area to send workers home and residents to stay inside for hours as heavy black plumes blanketed the harbour area.

It took 153 firefighters 4.7 million litres of water and 30 fire appliances to put out the fire in a 24-hour operation that cost the Civil Protection Department (CPD) €166,000.

The cause of the fire remains unclear and a magisterial inquiry is yet to be concluded.

That fire was the second in four years to engulf the same scrapyard, which had previously been warned about a long list of environmental infringements.

Waste not stored properly

Documents seen by Times of Malta confirm that a month before the fire, ERA inspectors had again found that “compliance issues remain unresolved”, among them the operator’s failure to store waste properly.

Inspectors again pushed operator Conrad Baldacchino to get in line with environmental regulations and to “maximise waste exports, limit the acceptance of new waste and establish agreements with authorised third-party facilities for the temporary relocation of waste”.

ERA provided the information following a freedom of information request by Times of Malta into site inspections carried out between the first fire in 2021 and the second fire last November.

However, documents seen by Times of Malta indicate that the scrapyard was far more compliant with environmental regulations before last year’s fire than it was before the first fire in 2021.

Before the 2021 fire, the scrapyard repeatedly failed to comply with basic regulatory standards, often continuing to operate illegally without a valid permit and processing hazardous materials outside its authorised limits.

The violations included serious environmental contamination, such as allowing waste to overspill into an adjacent valley, the mixing of hazardous waste, the spillage of waste oils across the facility and major infrastructure defects like damaged flooring that posed a risk of seepage into the ground.

But ERA documents seen by Times of Malta indicate that many of these infringements had been addressed and fixed by October 2025.

During that visit, inspectors noted minor fluid spillages, a number of vehicles were depolluted from oils and fuels (albeit still not dismantled), the valley was cleaned up, the boundary walls were fixed, and the operator had plans to carry out significant infrastructural works to get in line with the law.

Times of Malta also saw e-mail correspondence between ERA and the operator in which he would update the authority with pictures and details of his latest efforts to improve the situation.

ERA said it was working with Baldacchino to help him acquire an IPPC permit (Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control) – which is a high-level environmental licence required for industrial activities that carry a significant risk of pollution.

The October on-site meeting was requested by the operator to discuss plans to upgrade the facility and get the permit. ERA says it was in this context of tangible improvements that it allowed the site to continue operating as a scrapyard.

During that visit, inspectors also noticed the operator had many metres of pipes on site, which he intended to install around the facility as part of a fire hydrant system that could quickly tame any fire that might break out in such a volatile environment.

The system, however, was still not installed when the fire broke out a month later.

ERA said the installation of the system was contingent on a permit by landowners INDIS to construct a reservoir, and sources close to the operator also said he was awaiting guidance from INDIS before he could install the system. But in a reply to questions, INDIS said it received no application in relation to the reservoir.

Baldacchino’s lawyers, Franco Debono, Ishmael Psaila and Carlos Bugeja, replied to questions on his behalf, saying he “strived to assure regulatory and operational compliance as requested by the authorities”.

“Great investment has been made throughout the years with regards to safety and procedures, keeping in mind the interests of the company and the public in general,” they said.

“Although we are inclined to further elaborate, kindly note that, given the ongoing magisterial inquiry, we are deprived to do so at this stage.”

Times of Malta also saw documentation related to inspections dating to before last October.

During these visits, ERA inspectors would often point out environmental infringements like waste overflowing outside the site boundaries, excessive storage of batteries and electronic waste that was not properly stored.

The scrapyard has been closed, prohibited from operating and from accepting new waste since the November fire.

A magisterial inquiry is still ongoing to determine the cause of the fire, and Times of Malta is informed that a site clean-up is scheduled to begin in the coming days.