The Planning Authority has approved a new facility within the Magħtab complex where about 47,000 tons of mixed waste every year will be sorted before being landfilled.

The new facility will be housed inside the complex, avoiding the need to take up agricultural land outside it, as had originally been planned.

We are in a race against time- Wasteserv CEO Richard Bilocca

Wasteserv Malta chief executive Richard Bilocca told the PA board that the need for such a facility was “urgent” since items dumped into skips rented out by private individuals and industry were ending up being landfilled without being sorted.

“Waste management is very urgent. We are in a race against time and the country cannot afford to continue postponing,” he said.

He explained that the skip-sorting facility was originally planned for a site on the outskirts of the complex. However, the government had given Wasteserv direction to go back to the drawing board so as not to take up agricultural land.

The entity earmarked a site that lies between the two mounds of waste that tower above Magħab and Għallis.

Bilocca said residents and those working land around the Magħtab complex would be the main beneficiaries of improved waste management systems.

“The skip sorting plant is part of a chain of measures to reduce landfilled waste to 10 per cent from the present 90 per cent,” he said.

Malta has the highest landfilling rate in the EU. A number of measures, including a new pricing regime at the landfill gates, are expected to shift the balance towards more sustainable options.

The project’s architect, Edric Micallef, told the board that skips were entering the facility with tons of mixed waste. It was estimated that around 47,000 tons of unsorted mixed waste enters the complex from open-top skips every year.

The proposed facility was intended to further extend the lifetime of the landfill, he added.

Naxxar mayor Anne Marie Muscat Fenech Adami wanted to abstain from voting since the project description statement requested by the council was not available for viewing and discussion prior to the hearing.

PA chairman Emanuel Camilleri told her that abstaining was not possible on the PA board so she voted against, with the skip facility approved by nine votes to one.

The PA last year unanimously approved an application to increase the height of the Għallis landfill by 15 metres to avoid a waste disposal crisis. The measure will provide space for dumping to continue for a few years until the waste-to-energy plant (the incinerator) is completed.

The new height is expected to extend the landfill’s lifetime by up to three years. It cannot grow any further due to engineering limitations.

With heavy visual impact from practically all viewpoints, the landfill will grow to 70 metres but will remain 22 metres below the highest point of the infamous Magħtab rubbish dump.

The extension is a stopgap measure until the waste-to-energy plant is completed. That project will include a new landfill.