PD today said the government should declare in no uncertain terms what its plans are, both in the short term and on a sustainable long term, with regard to construction and demolition waste. As a country we cannot carry on stumbling and reacting from one crisis to the next. 

This video clip (above), taken on 5 July 2018 at 11:15am), shows an Mqabba quarry overfilled with construction waste. An enforcement notice has long been issued but the irregularity still persists. PA has repeatedly turned a blind eye. Is this the kind of quarry policy we will be having?

Malta has run out of space where to dispose of such waste. The projected Gozo Tunnel project will generate over one million tons of excavation waste which is almost equivalent to what the construction industry generates in a whole year, PD said.

These are not issues that developed now, but successive governments have been aware of them for decades. No proper evaluation has been taken and no long term strategy has ever been planned.  Serious initiatives to recycle substantial quantities of Construction waste – which is a resource that should not be thrown away – have never been taken.

The people demand and are owed very straight answers as construction waste is a hidden cost for the country that no one is factoring into the equation of our economic growth. A huge environmental and financial cost is being unduly placed on the taxpayer.

PD asked the following questions: (1) Has government planned sustainable solutions within the concept of the circular economy for the reuse and recycling of construction waste? (2) Is government looking at alternative solutions, and if yes, what are they? (3) Is the country going to be left in the dark until some “magical solution” is found?