The new state of the art e12.8 million Marsa abattoir clean burning incinerator was yesterday inaugurated by Rural Affairs and Environment Minister George Pullicino. Mr Pullicino said that apart from being more efficient than the old St Luke’s and Gozo General Hospital incinerators, this one was much cleaner and would result in much better air quality, in turn leading to people living in the area being healthier. The new plant will be managed by WasteServ. The project, said Mr Pullicino, was co-financed through the fifth Italo-Maltese financial protocol, with the Italian government paying e10.8 million and the Maltese government footing e1.7 million. Mr Pullicino said that the new incinerator, which will only produce steam as a by-product, was an indispensable tool for the development of the country and will result in a big step forward in the way Malta treats its waste. “This plant is in conformity with the best European standards and will result in the country being more competitive, while also providing enhancements to the environment,” said Mr Pullicino. The opening of the incinerator, he said, is directly linked with the closure of the ones at St Luke’s and in Gozo. He said that the incinerator at St Luke’s had not been used for 10 days, but will formally be closed next week. Mr Pullicino said: “The decision to upgrade the plant saved the government on new investment such as the purchase of a new facility for Mater Dei Hospital, at the same time reducing the expense incurred by the operation of the plant from around Lm2 million per year to Lm0.5 million.” He explained that this will mean that the upgrade will pay for itself within six months. The plant was originally to cost e10.8 million, but the additional e2 million investment was needed to allow for clinical and other forms of waste to be disposed of. WasteServ chief executive officer Vince Magri said the incinerator will treat abattoir waste, clinical waste, refuse derived fuel, solvents and industrial sludge. “This became possible after WasteServ took the necessary steps to modify the plant in order to make it possible to treat these different types of waste,” said Ing. Magri. “In a small country like Malta, it is not feasible from an economic and environmental point of view to have different entities with separate incinerators. To have one plant for all local needs is the most sensible solution,” he said. The Italian under-secretary for agricultural and afforestation policies, Guido Tampieri, was also present for the inauguration. The incinerator is equipped with a cold storage room which will allow waste from the abattoir to be stored there for five days before disposal, while hospital waste is fed into the oven in individual skips. The whole process is automated and the computerised system will also tell engineers what type of waste to burn so as to achieve optimal burning results. The skips are then washed and disinfected automatically. The first oven can reach temperatures of 1,000 degrees Celsius, but will operate at some 900 degrees. It is a rotating oven which will allow more efficient burning. Once the burning is complete, the ash is compressed and transported to the Ghallis landfill where they are disposed of in the hazardous waste chamber. The smoke and other residues are then filtered into a second burning chamber at a minimum temperature of 850 degrees Celsius. The steam by-product is then cooled to a temperature of 180 degrees. This is not, however, the end of the process. Before being ejected from the chimney stack, the gases which are left are treated again by being forced to pass through vats containing a type of muslin cloth which is coated in active carbon so as to draw out heavy metals. Moreover, neutralising chemicals are then added to the mix, including bicarbonate of soda and others to remove acidic substances and a type of nitrogen oxide. This system will ensure that the emissions which are eventually ejected from the chimney stack will be within the limits of the European directive on incineration of waste.