There are four localities which are still without a bring-in site, statistics provided by WasteServ have revealed and the current number of bring-in sites needs to be more than doubled to meet the ‘one bring-in site for every 300 households’ target set by the government.

Speaking to The Malta Independent, a spokesman for the environment ministry, Darrel Pace, said that at present there are 180 bring-in sites spread around 63 local councils in Malta and Gozo. Gozo has 22 bring-in sites with a minimum of one in every local council.

He said there are four localities which have still not set up at least one bring in site. These are Paola, Zurrieq, Zebbug and Hamrun.

Asked whether these localities did not have a bring-in site because the local councils were refusing to have these sites in their locality, Mr Pace said these localities did not have bring-in sites due to different reasons.

He explained that one of these localities had an operational bring-in site but the local council, instead of monitoring the site closely to curb misuse or maybe informing its citizens on how to use the site, chose to remove it arguing that its people were not educated enough to use such facilities.

In the case of another locality, WasteServ and the local council cannot agree on a site where to set up the first bring-in site. There were also other cases where the councils simply did not agree or support the principle collecting separated waste for recycling.

Asked whether the ministry was satisfied with the response it has had from local councils, Mr Pace said that whilst the strong response coming from certain local councils which are actively promoting waste separation is very encouraging, it is also a fact that the current number of bring-in sites needs to be more than doubled to meet the ‘one bring-in site for every 300 households’ target set by the government. It is also worth noting that some 12 bring-in sites were not deployed because of objections by the public.

On the response it had from the public, Mr Pace said the public’s response is primarily measured through the amount of separated waste disposed of in these sites.

The figures of waste collected from these sites during the first five months of the year show a 44 per cent increase when compared to the same period last year. While this could be the result of actually having more bring-in sites available for use by the public, it also shows that the intensive educational and media campaigns are leaving their mark on this initiative.

Mr Pace said that the number of bring-in sites has to increase to 300 according a European Union project but the government is aiming to surpass this target to reach 400 bring-in sites.

The Environment and Rural Affairs Ministry is adamant on its intention to deploy this full complement of bring-in sites since it intends to protect the interests of citizens that believe that recycling is the only way forward.