Unwanted donations

Even an oily rag is hazardous waste in the new environmentally-conscious age washing over us like a Pacific island typhoon. The recent showdown between the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA) and Greenpeace resurfaced again after the festive fugue.

Waste which falls into the toxic category entered port last month, was offloaded and driven to Maghtab, where it was quietly dumped in black plastic bags. No questions were asked.

This has been standard treatment for residues cleaned from ship's tanks which should be sent to a hazardous waste storage site. We don't have one yet, but expect to as part of the new engineered landfill yet to be built.

It is cheaper for ships to use Malta as a final resting place for the hazardous waste produced during the journey. Up until now they have not had to pay more than minimal charges for it as long as the authorities did not chivvy over whether or not this was a hazardous substance entering the Maltese environment.

The situation is unacceptable but in Malta it is still nothing out of the ordinary. MEPA criticised the international environmental organisation for allowing oil sludge to be dumped so the act could be caught on film. In fact it is an event, like hunting, which goes on continuously behind the scenes.

It came at a time when MEPA hardly needs any more bad press and the reaction from the authority was very much on the defensive. Greenpeace were not thanked for their actions which publicly revealed a run-of-the-mill waste scandal.

Press statements issued by MEPA assured the public that no toxic elements were found in the ship's waste. But these referred to the ash from the ship's incinerator and not the toxic sludge taken to Maghtab for disposal without a licence.

It would be naive to consider this an isolated incident when no controls have been in place to prevent visiting ships dumping the unknown contents of their furnaces or bilges as a regular occurrence.

Studies and X-rays of Maghtab for the purpose of rehabilitating the dump are useless if we keep pouring toxic waste into it in defiance of EU directives.

The whole mess appears to be caused by lack of communication or co-operation between MEPA and the Drydocks management. MEPA is now exercising damage control and striking while the iron is hot, demanding that waste carriers be licensed.

It even crossed my mind that someone could be getting paid to take the waste off the ship and spirit it away to mystic Mount Maghtab. In countries where waste management is still primitive there is always the danger of abuse from outside operators on the lookout for such an opportunity to evade polluter pays principles. We must remain on guard ourselves to ensure that this is not the case in Malta. MEPA assures me it is not. The authority says it is doing its best to see this does not happen.

Greenpeace is expected to issue another press release shortly on the results of samples taken from the dumped sludge which have been sent to its British-based laboratory.

The sludge is likely to contain cancer-causing substances (benzene and PAHs). A poisonous gas dangerous to the respiratory system could build up and cause a health hazard if the dump is disturbed by earth-moving equipment in future.

When asked whether the Basel Convention prohibits the regular deposit of oil tank sludge at Maghtab dump, Dr Vince Scerri of the Ricasoli Tank Cleaning Facility, answered: "It depends on how the convention is interpreted."

Progett Skart leader Chris Ciantar had this to say about the Greenpeace revelations: "In the Waste Management Plan of 2000 published by the Environment Ministry it has already been stated that all types of waste are reaching Maghtab." In view of this he does not consider the Greenpeace revelations to be news.

He adds, "Maghtab continues to be a forgiving site that allows this country to function. It conceals as much as possible in the best way it can. In the near future, the challenge for each and every individual is to return this site back to nature as best as possible."

Perhaps the Kronviken concern has helped to get the message across quicker.

Really serious toxic dumping

This latest incident has earned Malta the dubious honour of a place on the Greenpeace Mediterranean Website along with Turkey and Israel, countries with even bigger toxic waste issues.

While the problems in these countries may make our own problems seem small, everything must be taken in perspective. We live on a tiny island where there is little room for mistakes. At a meeting of the Basel Convention held in Geneva in mid-December Greenpeace presented three unresolved cases of toxic dumping in Turkey.

The Basel Convention bans the transportation of hazardous waste from OECD to non-OECD countries. The Basel Secretariat provides assistance and leadership to the parties of the Convention so as to control and stop waste trade and find solutions to existing cases of illegal toxic trade.

The heads of the Turkish Environment Department at the Foreign Ministry and Waste Management Department within Turkey's Environment Ministry were briefed by Greenpeace before presenting their case in Geneva.

Waste dumped 15 years ago is being stored in poor conditions in warehouses on the Black Sea. After a protest outside its embassy in Turkey the Italian government renewed its promise to take back the waste.

France is refusing to take responsibility for the French ship Sea Beirut that attempted to enter the Aliaga shipbreaking yards to be scrapped carrying toxic materials on board.

The Spanish government has remained silent over the Spanish toxic waste that entered Iskenderun port on the m.v. Ulla.

US plays dirty

After New York City announced it was thinking of shutting down its recycling programmes and exporting the city's waste to a Caribbean island, Greenpeace was put on the alert again.

Now the American government is being closely watched by the Basel Action Network over its reversal of a moratorium on toxic waste ship dumping.

There are plans to export rusting vessels from the National Reserve Defence Fleet for sinking as "artificial reefs." Under the Basel Convention, ships that are to be disposed and contain hazardous contaminants in harmful amounts are hazardous wastes.

The United States is not a party to the Basel Convention. The export of contaminated ships for recycling materials would still violate the Toxic Substances Control Act in the United States which places a strict prohibition on the export of PCBs in any amount from the United States. American environmental and trade union organisations are demanding that the ships be decontaminated prior to export.

Trappers get cagey

In the best of "know thine enemy" tradition I would from time to time and to the amazement of my local stationers invest in a copy of that huntin', shootin' 'n' fishin' periodical Il-Passa.

I confess to having been fascinated by the mix of sentimental farmers' lore, all sorts of queer facts about strange animals... (Did you know that fish wear sunglasses? They have a red disc on the eye to filter out the sun's rays and make the sea seem less blue).

Herbalism wafted across the pages in a strange brew with taxidermy. The antipathy of eco-tourism was evident in hunting sprees to Egypt. Closer to home, the amount of lead now found in arable Maltese soil was never a popular subject.

Il-Passa did find favour when it came to the recipe page. Like qargha baghli (marrow) soup - an authentic version made with fresh gbejniet (cheeselets), lettuce and tinned peas.

But, it never quite overcame my revulsion toward some of the fouler pastimes covered. It took my appetite away. A sprinkling of lead in your minestra is no longer an optional ingredient.

If it weren't for the shooting of wild birds and a certain morbid fascination with spearguns I could have become a regular if sometimes bemused fan. The classified ads offered anything from incubators for quail eggs to eucalyptus and acacia (trees which are sure to upset our ecosystems).

The monthly newspaper which appeared on the shelves for the last time in December displayed a poignant if distressing lack of understanding about the environment it purported to defend - along with the interests of thousands of bird hunters and trappers. It always escaped me how the big sponsors were permitted to advertise decoys and bird song recordings, the use of which is illegal.

It appears that some readers who had bought and made use of the banned objects were subsequently caught by the Administrative Law Enforcement team.

According to last December's issue 203 people appeared in court on charges related to illegal hunting and trapping in the first nine months of last year.

As we can fairly discern, this is barely skimming the surface. Yet even at the demise, temporary or otherwise, of its pro-kacca u nsib (for-hunting and trapping) organ the hunters lobby, made up of several sub-groups, are adamant.

"Many trappers are worried about what will happen to their permits especially after developments concerning the European Union. Now they are being requested to provide certain information which they never gave before." Il-Passa reported this on the front page just before it folded last month.

Trappers are incensed at the idea that they should reveal the location of their trapping site or even go through the motions of filling in a form stating the number and type of birds taken in a season.

With all the aerial photography and Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping of sites MEPA hardly depends on trappers as the sole source of this information.

Filling in the Carnet de Chasse (hunting diary) form, as all good European hunters must do, is now a requirement for the renewal of a hunters insurance and licence - just as compliance with the VRT test is a prerequisite to the driver's yearly licence and insurance.

A number of individuals may buck at the idea of form-filling their open secrets away. The net is closing and those lone gunmen who balk at any sort of monitoring process are beginning to feel trapped themselves.

FKNK wants a better environment in which to be able to kill wild birds. To this end it has sent a dossier to each of the two main parties with which it still plays ball. The federation wants the 18-year-old agreement for occupying land at Mizieb and Mellieha to be made into a formal management agreement.

The hunters want to reduce the permissible distance allowed for shooting and revise (decrease) scheduling (protection) of wild birds, while claiming to have scientific documentation that these species will not be threatened if hunted.

The federation says there is no scientific or logical reason why trapping should be banned in spring. FKNK also wants an amnesty on undeclared guns and stuffed birds.

While hunters display a distinct reluctance to provide any information about the location and extent of their hunting and trapping activities the FKNK has accused MIC of divulging half-truths.

MIC says that hunting in spring will be retained by a derogation while hunting at sea and trapping on land will continue. FKNK grumbles that spring shooting will only be allowed for turtle dove and quail and will be bound by nine conditions.

The federation is mutinous over the proposed 18-km per hour speed limit on boats hunting at sea and belligerent regarding a restriction on 30 species for which trapping will be prohibited.

No more hunting licences will be granted until a study on songbirds (due in 2007) has been completed. EU Commissioner Günther Verheugen is reported to have said that trapping must end after 2007. This makes the hunters see red as a fish with sunglasses.