Local councils were at the receiving end of criticism yesterday, when Environment Minister George Pullicino took them to task for failing in a duty which he said they owed their constituents.
WasteServ, the waste management company, has provided bins for bring-in sites but there were councils that were not implementing the concept and refusing this service to their residents, Mr Pullicino complained.
The government had planned to have over 400 bring-in sites around Malta and Gozo but only 240 were up and running.
If councils did not get their act together, the government would make the decision for them and determine the sites where it deemed fit, he warned.
Mr Pullicino was speaking during a visit to the second of five civic amenity sites (CAS), which was opened at Mriehel yesterday, when there was also a fashion show displaying garments made out of recycled materials.
The opening of such sites further demonstrated the government’s commitment to safeguarding the environment, the minister argued.
The Mriehel CAS will service a catchment area of some 120,000 people. “The next one to be up and running will be in Hal Far and we also have one in the pipeline for Luqa and for Xewkija. The whole CAS project is worth about EUR5 million, 27 per cent of which is financed by the government,” said Mr Pullicino.
He pointed out that the CAS idea went hand in hand with that of bring-in sites.
“It is unfair that councils do not implement the (bring-in sites) plan and do not give this service to their residents,” said Mr Pullicino. “It is simply unfair on residents. And it is also unfair on other localities which become over-burdened because others do not place their sites,” he said.
He also said that each site serviced some 350 families, which was much higher than figures from abroad. “We have another 40 bring-in sites that will be placed around Malta and Gozo in the coming months,” he said.
Giving some figures on recycling, Mr Pullicino said that in the first four months of this year, the amount of glass collected and processed was up by 50 per cent of all of last year’s figure. He also said the government was trying to improve awareness by focusing on educating children. He joked: “Sometime I find that my daughter corrects me when I make mistakes when I am separating my domestic waste, so we must be doing something right.”
Giving figures about the CAS site in Maghtab, Mr Pullicino said that only 25 per cent of the material disposed of there was actually land filled as the remaining 75 per cent was all recycled.
He also pointed out that the sites are open seven days a week from 7.30am to 5.30pm. “We also remind people that the bulky refuse service was and will remain free of charge,” concluded Mr Pullicino.
Wasteserv CEO Vince Magri said that the CAS sites were being designed with the user in mind. “We always wanted to have such facilities and since Malta joined the EU, we have been given the necessary funding to make things happen,” he said. He reminded people that using the CAS and bring-in sites was a contribution towards saving Malta’s environment.