Opposition Leader “confirms Need” for modernisation of Sant’Antnin plant

Opposition Leader “confirms Need” for modernisation of Sant’Antnin plant – DOI

Malta Independent Tuesday, 24 July 2007, 00:00 Last update: about 14 years ago

The Leader of the Opposition has confirmed that the Sant’Antnin waste treatment and composting plant needs to be modernised, but the timing of his statement is ironic considering that such big improvements are being made with regard to waste management, the Department of Information (DOI) said in a statement.

The statement was issued following a media conference by Opposition Leader Alfred Sant in Marsa on Saturday morning.

The DOI said Dr Sant ought to know that WasteServ was undertaking an intensive programme to encourage people to separate their waste.

People were increasingly becoming aware of the need to separate waste. WasteServ carries out a process at its plant, whereby material is separated further, so as to ensure that different materials are recycled separately.

Among the materials that are sent for recycling are plastic, glass, metal and paper, as well as others like batteries, computers and furniture.

The EUR23 million (Lm9.9 million) investment to upgrade the Sant’Antnin plant will include the introduction of a modern method of separating material. Workers’ conditions will improve tremendously as material will then be able to be separated by means of an automated system.

Until this happened however, separation of domestic waste was being carried out at a temporary site in an industrial zone in Marsa. The site was previously used by ShipBuilding and WasteServ made the necessary arrangements for the land to be given back to the government.

The DOI said Dr Sant’s alarmist statement was not fitting and his visit to the site only confirmed that domestic waste that was being separated was really being processed, rather than being mixed with other material, as some people were attempting to suggest.

These included four local councils with a majority of Labour councillors that did not yet have a bring-in-site in their locality, said the statement.

The DOI added that some refugees from Dar l-Emigrant were temporarily engaged to help WasteServ employees carry out the sorting process, since the amount of work has been on the increase. In return, WasteServ is making a donation to Dar l-Emigrant to cover part of the expenses required to run the residence.