Wasteserv stored more than 500 tonnes of white goods at a site in Iklin to ensure it did not miss out on EU funding for a €22 million facility, it said on Wednesday.
The state-owned waste management company said on Wednesday that it had 525.4 tons of white goods at the Iklin site.
It acknowledged that the Environment and Resources Authority permit it was subject to stipulated that "storage of hazardous waste may not exceed 49 tons at any given time."
Waste electrical and electronic equipment, such as discarded white goods, are categorised as a form of hazardous waste.
It said a decision to move items to Iklin was made to ensure potential EU funding for a large facility it wants to build in Ħal Far would not be "placed at a considerable risk".
The company statement came two days after Nationalist Party MP Jason Azzopardi declared in parliament that tons of white goods were being stored at an illegal facility run by Wasteserv. The facility, he said, formed part of the Bitmac batching plant and was meant to hold the waste temporarily until it was exported for recycling abroad.
In March, Times of Malta revealed that the government had awarded a €1 million direct order to Bitmac to use part of its plant for the storage of electronic waste from the overflowing civic amenity sites.
Wasteserv said on Wednesday that when civic amenity sites across the country filled up, it had to move the goods to other locations to continue providing a service for the disposal of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE).
It plans to build a €22 million facility in Ħal Far which would enable it to accept enough levels of such goods to make collective export more economically viable. The facility will cater for different forms of waste and should be ready within two years.
When its application to build the facility was approved and the tender issued, the company found itself with a limited time frame to clear goods it had stored there to prevent losing EU funds.
The only feasible option it found to temporarily store the WEEE that had to be moved from Ħal Far was the Iklin yard. It issued a direct order to site owners "due to tight timeframes," Wasteserv said.
Wasteserv said it exported 516.9 tons of the material between January and September. Another 525.4 tons were stored at the Iklin storage facility.
The material being stored at the Iklin site was not deemed to be highly flammable as it is very difficult for it to self-ignite, it said, and it was stored "at a sufficient distance" from the batching plant.
Wasteserv said it submitted a planning application and also applied for an IPPC - Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control - permit for a warehouse within the Iklin facility.
This was being done until the Multi Material Recovery Facility in Ħal Far was operational.