What is there to burn?

I refer to Godwin C. Micallef's article "Incineration is an option" (January 10) written in response to Friends of the Earth Malta's stand against incineration. Mr Micallef's determination to force mass-burn incineration down this country's throat is amazing and admirable in a sort of way. What is not admirable is his use of some of the facts (particularly about the successes of recycling in Europe) and his careful omission of others.

Before one advocates the need for a mass-burn incinerator in Malta, one has to first thoroughy assess what this waste treatment facility will ultimately burn, that is, establish waste quantities and types. The main components in solid waste are stone, paper and cardboard, metals, plastic, glass and a mixed assortment of other hazardous and non-hazardous materials.

Let's treat each in turn: stone is non-combustible so out it goes; paper and cardboard are combustible but can also be composted (the environmentally and economically preferred option) and can be shredded and used as animal bedding; metals are not combustible, moreover, they can be recycled/exported; aluminium is also not combustible and easily recycled/exported; there are various options for using crushed glass, which, incidentally, also does not burn - so essentially what we are left with is a meagre fraction of our waste stream made up of plastics. Incidentally, hazardous waste cannot be treated by a mass-burn incinerator and requires specialised facilities.

And alas, not all the plastic in our waste stream can be incinerated! The EU Packaging and packaging waste directive stipulates that a significant proportion of plastic packaging waste must be recovered and recycled. Deduct this amount from the total plastic waste figure and we are left with a few hundred tonnes of plastic to burn, at a cost of some Lm47 million for a mass-burn incinerator, plus some Lm4.2 million a year to keep it running. This apart from the other problems associated with incineration which I will not bore your readers with.

The government of Malta has wisely discarded mass-burn incineration as an option at this stage and is seeking to effectively introduce waste minimisation, segregation and recycling. Let's give our full support to these initiatives and not waste time discussing as to how we'd like to see our hard-earned pennies go up in smoke... literally!