WasteServ on Monday claimed that GreenPak was failing to honour its contractual obligations to deliver recyclable materials that consist of paper, cardboard, plastic and metal.

The government company was reacting to a statement by GreenPak that throughout 2021, Wasteserv had withheld payments, saying that the public was placing too many items in the collection system which were not suitable for recycling.

WasteServ said that although GreenPak said it delivered 25,000 tons of recyclable material, it should be noted that around half of this material was non-recyclable and damaging to WasteServ’s interests.

"GreenPak is insisting on getting paid for such waste from taxpayers’ money as if the material brought in is recyclable.

"The fact that GreenPak is delivering material that cannot be recycled has been confirmed by several separate exercises carried out where samples were taken from the waste delivered by GreenPak.

"These exercises confirmed that the rejects rate, that is, the amount of non-recyclable materials such as clothing, bulky waste and even hazardous and clinical waste - is much higher than the 7.5 per cent claimed by GreenPak. GreenPak expects WasteServ to pay for 35 per cent of non-recyclable, damaging material from taxpayers’ money."

It added it was unacceptable that GreenPak was expecting a government company to pay €48 per tonne for material that is not recyclable and that is very often hazardous, and results is substantial damage to the company.

"If WasteServ accepts GreenPak’s requests, this would be tantamount to misappropriation of public funds given to it by the government to manage its operations with success, transparency and accountability.

"WasteServ is committed to managing its funds responsibly. WasteServ is also committed to building on its success where month after month it is improving its performance by increasing the amount of recyclable materials processed and returned to the economy."

It was for this reason that in the last weeks, Malta registered a record number in recyclable materials processed when compared to the last 19 years, it said.

That is also why it could not accept claims that went against this and that impacted the country’s environmental performance in the long term.

"It is also not true that WasteServ is withholding payments that are due to GreenPak. In fact, WasteServ deposited this amount to Court after GreenPak refused to accept these payments. On the contrary, it is GreenPak which has so far refused to pay considerable money due to WasteServ, and on this, WasteServ is reserving every right granted to it by law."