It is shocking to hear that the proposed and much awaited new landfill at Ghallis will last for only seven years, Friends of the Earth said in a statement. Time and time again, the government had pledged that this facility will have a 20-year lifespan, it added.

FoE claimed that since the waste management strategy was published in 2001, the government has failed to design, finance and implement a national waste reduction and waste separation policy. To date, the government has been shying away from its responsibilities and blinding the public with sporadic waste separation initiatives, such as those in some government departments and schools, the NGO said.

A carefully-planned waste reduction and separation policy goes well beyond simply “dumping” a couple of bring-in sites here and there. Given the lack of sufficient financial and human resources, as well as adequate facilities to back these initiatives, it is clear that there is no real political commitment towards waste reduction and separation.

FoE (Malta) is very disappointed that the Maltese public has not been given a fair chance at proper waste separation by means of systems that meet the needs of all sectors in society. One way of achieving this is by offering door-to-door collection of separated waste.