The government’s plans to upgrade the waste recycling plant in the limits of Marsascala have obviously not been very welcome by the residents of this seaside locality.
They voiced all their frustrations during a public meeting attended by Environment Minister George Pullicino, showing their adamancy to resist any kind of development that, they say, would be harmful to their village in more ways than one.
Not so long ago, the people of Marsascala used to daily complain about the foul smell that emanated from the plant when it was first built. Fortunately, developments led to a better control and these complaints have been reduced to a minimum. What Marsascala residents fear is that when the plant is modernised they will go back to square one.
Even if the government, through Mr Pullicino, continues to assure them that this will not be the case, and that more than half of the waste to be recycled at the plant consists of dry recyclable material collected from bring-in sites – a kind of waste that does not generate foul odours – the Marsascala residents remain against the expansion of the plant.
Their grievances are understandable. Nobody would like to live next door to a waste recycling plant. Apart from the inconvenience, which will be exacerbated by the fact that more heavy vehicles will be using the main road leading to the village, they are afraid that business will be negatively affected and the price of the property will drop.
To add fuel to the fire, they are also worried that all fish farms will be grouped just off the coast there. They believe that all this, instead of attracting more tourism to the locality – internal or foreign – will push people away from the village.
The government, for its part, wants to upgrade the plant as another step in its strategy to have an effective waste management strategy, one that safeguards the environment as much as possible.
Its main defence has so far been a quote lifted from a declaration made by the then Labour Environment Minister George Vella, who way back in 1998 had said that the Labour government was hoping to eventually recycle all household waste at Sant’Antnin. What the government is now proposing is less than what Labour were thinking of doing seven years ago, the government is saying.
The Labour Party has come up with a different proposal, that of having regional plants in a number of places in Malta so that all the waste would not end up in the South. Logically, this may be a valid proposal as the burden would be equally shared. But the idea does not appear to be feasible, mainly because Malta’s space is so limited. It would also cost more money to have so many plants constructed.
This takes us back to the Marsascala plant. In spite of the government’s assurances that, once modernised, the plant will not negatively affect the locality because there would be no bad smells once the facility will be all closed up, the residents are rather sceptical.
They are right to be concerned on what will happen in the future, considering what they had to endure in the past.
It will take a lot of persuasion from the government side to get its message across to the Marsascala people. Afterwards, it will have to make sure that its promises are fulfilled, and that the plant will not cause the inconvenience and have the negative effects the Marsascala residents and businessmen are so afraid of.
If and when the plant is actually expanded and modernised, what the government is saying today will have to come to be. Otherwise, it will have problems.