Separated waste collectors will meet this evening to decide what action to take over pending payments due for last year, The Times has learnt.
The payments can only be settled if the excess tonnage recovered is sold to non-members of authorised waste packaging schemes. But although a solution was in sight, the authorities failed to act on it, giving rise to a situation whereby contractors were not being paid for the service they were giving, said Joe Attard, the chief executive officer of Green MT, a subsidiary of the Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises – GRTU, which collects separated waste.
Green MT recovers the grey bags filled with recyclable waste from 41 localities; once a week in 26 localities and twice weekly in the remaining. It also maintains 275 bring-in sites for separated waste. Additionally, it collects packaging waste from commercial outlets on behalf of eight local councils and from 94 schools once a week.
All this amounts to a recovery of about 160 tons a week.
“Unless an agreement is reached with the authorities in respect to excess packaging waste recovered by schemes in 2010, then the recovery of separated waste will stop with immediate effect.
“A meeting is being held for all contractors to discuss this matter and decisions will be taken. This has to stop. We are on the verge of stopping the whole operation,” he said when contacted.
He said Green MT had written to those concerned, including Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, but to no avail.
“Just because the government is no longer responsible through WasteServ to recover the grey bags from these localities it does not mean unsustainable operations can continue as long as it is the private sector that is suffering,” he said.
Mr Attard complained that the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, responsible for enforcement and ensuring that producers of packaging are members of authorised schemes, “has not effectively stood its ground”.
He said only 1,700 producers were registered with Mepa and only 670 of them were paying the schemes, which meant that more than 1,000 still needed to pay up for their obligations in 2010. Moreover, over 2,300 still had to register with Mepa and with a scheme and start paying.
“There is no more time left. Contractors will not work anymore without getting paid for their services. Although a solution is in sight we need to make sure it is implemented in the shortest time possible. It is no longer acceptable that an importer of shoes is a paying member to a scheme and another importer in the same sector is not. This country needs a fair and level playing field,” he insisted.
He said the government had, in the past, committed itself with the Association of Local Councils that, if an authorised scheme faltered in its operations, then the state, through WasteServ, would take over once again.
“We are not going in that direction. That direction is a part of history. If the government takes us there, we will stand up to be counted at the European Commission level. We will leave no stone unturned to tell Europe the truth about waste separation in Malta,” Mr Attard said.