The Marsascala family park is being temporarily closed at the advice of experts who recommended it should be declared "out of bounds".

Their recommendation was made because of a fault in the adjacent recycling plant that prompted Wasteserv to burn acidic gases.

A spokeswoman for the Environment Ministry said the government took on board the recommendation made by the team of experts tasked by Environment Minister Leo Brincat to investigate the plant's operations.

The ministry believed that the fault was a symptom of the previous government's bad management and lack of planning.

The incident that coincided with the investigative period happened in May when a hydroliser tank was damaged. The tank's function is to clean the biogas produced from treating household waste from hydrogen sulphide, an acidic gas, before this passes into the electricity generating unit.

As a result, Wasteserv, the Government agency that runs the facility, has had to flare the biogas containing the hydrogen sulphide from a five-meter chimney stack to avoid causing problems to the electricity generating unit.

The experts said that until the necessary repairs were made to the hydroliser, the family park should be closed.

The investigation found that the poor quality of household waste was partly to blame for the incident. The recycling plant is supposed to turn organic waste generated by households and industry into compost but this is very often contaminated with plastic and other materials that reduce the efficiency of the machines.

Biogas, a by-product of the waste digestion system, is then used to generate electricity.

But the experts found that the compost generated by the plant contained dangerous heavy metals and was only used as a cover in the landfill. The presence of heavy metals was probably the result of batteries that were incorrectly disposed of in the 'black bag' waste generated by households.

Environmentalist and scientist Edward Mallia led the team that included Alan Pulis and Dr Louise Spiteri.

The review team was tasked to evaluate the environmental impact of the plant but Mr Brincat said they asked to widen the scope of the investigation to include risk assessment and the waste-to-energy aspect.

Mr Brincat said the Government had no intention of closing down the Sant'Antnin recycling facility that has been dogged by controversy and resident complaints. "The Government wants to improve things and take all necessary mitigation measures."

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