The current year will go down in the history book as a record-breaking turning point in sustainable waste management, Wasteserv said in a statement on Saturday. This not only means that Malta has moved from its constant rock bottom position on EU scoresheets, but should other countries retain their current performance Malta would be just 7 percentage points from surpassing the EU average, the statement added.

Malta moved up from around 10% of plastic waste recovery in 2020 to more than 30% in 2021, a graph released by the agency said.

This is extremely encouraging as projections for next year are even more ambitious with substantial further improvements within reach. When one looks at the entire recycling chain, the figures are more substantial with a rate topping 60%, double of what was previously being registered.

WasteServ has already announced that 2021 will be its most productive year in terms of recyclable materials processed since it was set up in 2002 with around 18,000 tonnes of cardboard, paper, metal, glass, and plastic will be recycled and returned to the economy.

Substantial increases have been registered across all streams with cardboard and metal representing the sharpest improvements, Wasteserv said.

Minister for the Environment, Climate Change and Planning Aaron Farrugia explained how this improved performance will soon be complemented with a new waste management plan that will not only consolidate the island’s position but will allow it to approach the EU top performers.

As Malta moves towards a circular economy approach, WasteServ continues to work on its performance through strategic decisions taken with the aim of improving its operations. WasteServ is also currently working on implementing a €500 million investment consisting of four new state-of-the-art processing plants that will be part of the new ECOHIVE project.

WasteServ CEO Richard Bilocca thanked the hundreds of workers in the waste managing sector whom he described as the Island’s environmental heroes. He added that the current results are just a teaser of the improvements that will be attained over the next few years through the realisation of the ECOHIVE project.