The government is studying a proposal to gradually phase out door-to-door waste collection and have residents drop their garbage off at designated points for pick-up.
The idea was put forward by the Local Councils’ Association, the Malta Independent reported this week, and is being seriously considered by the government.
The transition would have to be done over a period of 10 years to avoid a system shock, starting with one drop-off point per street and gradually introducing neighbourhood, local or even regional collection points.
Local Government Minister José Herrera told Times of Malta he was looking into the proposal as a possibility for the coming years. He said it needed to be considered in-depth as it would have a significant impact on the way waste collection is managed.
All local councils across the country currently have contracts with licensed private waste collectors to collect mixed domestic and organic waste.
Recyclable waste is picked up by collectors engaged by two local operators that run a national scheme.
Malta generates one of the highest volumes of municipal waste per capita in the EU, at an average of 640 kilos per citizen every year.
Herrera said on Tuesday that previous attempts to introduce similar concepts had proven unsustainable, with residential skips set up in urban areas ending up surrounded with abandoned waste.
However, the local government minister said that, in densely populated areas “where entire streets are lined with apartment blocks”, there is an urgent need for alternative solutions.
"Pavements are often left cluttered and inaccessible. We need to find a balance that is both environmentally sustainable as well as financially viable,” he said.
14 proposals by Local Councils Association
Herrera was reacting to one of 14 proposals put forward by the association for inclusion in the government’s new national waste strategy. The association suggests setting up a network of public waste containers.
These could be subterranean and would end the practice of leaving black, organic and grey bags, each with a different category of waste, outside front doors.
Garbage bags are currently left outside houses, to be collected every day.Association president Mario Fava told Times of Malta the proposal would have to be phased in so as not to shock the system. However, it is the right thing to do, he maintained.
Earlier this year, the government launched a 10-year strategy to improve waste management, including a possible overhaul of waste collection services.
The strategy incorporated the association’s proposal as a possible solution but is not conclusive on whether this will be implemented. The strategy also calls for the introduction of “a regional approach” and an upgrade in the fleet used to collect waste.
It outlines plans to increase the frequency of collections and the duration of contracts with collectors as well as to regularise workers’ conditions.
Local councils are being encouraged to issue joint tenders for the collection of waste in order to take advantage of widened geographical coverage and secure better prices.
Studies will be undertaken to determine the real cost of waste collection, on which tenders will be adjudicated. Pilot projects will be carried out to find the best solution for kerbside collection.
What do waste collection firms make of the idea?
Meanwhile, the two operators of Malta’s recyclable waste collection are split on the idea of phasing out kerbside collection.
A spokesperson for Green MT said that “in a changing society we need to provide additional services to meet moral and legislative obligations”.
However, space limitation across several localities “does not augur well for this recommendation”.
On the other hand, a spokesperson for the other operator – GreenPak – said that they themselves had been pushing for this shift for several years.
Door-to-door collection, the spokesperson said, caused traffic and public hygiene nightmares in many towns and villages across the island. It was high time, he added, to consider moving away from the current system.