The Mriehel civic amenity site has outstripped the Maghtab site in terms of waste deposited there, despite starting operations four months later.

In fact, a total of 3,122.772 tonnes of material was disposed of at the Mriehel site between March and November 2007 compared with 2,325.003 tonnes being disposed of at the Maghtab site between November 2006 and 2007. This translates into a difference of 797.769 tonnes. In all, a total of nearly 5,000 tonnes of waste was disposed of.

Data for the Hal Far CAS is not yet available.

However, sources confirmed that the Malta Environment and Planning Authority has issued an operating permit and the CAS site is targeted to be operational in January 2008. Also, work has resumed at the Tal-Kus site in Xewkija, after it was stopped for three weeks when the local council in question applied for a prohibitory injunction.

The Gozo courts eventually ruled against it and work resumed. Work is also continuing to finalise the fourth Malta CAS in Luqa.

A total of 20,023 vehicles used the Mriehel site while 14,112 used the one at Maghtab.

What is interesting to note is that usage of Maghtab started slowly with 26, 472 and 782 vehicles using the site in the first three months of operation. This then rose sharply to the 1,473; 1,433; 1,505 and 1,496 marks between March and June 2007 before settling in the 1,100 region for the remainder of the year.

Mriehel was a different story with only 141 vehicles using it in the first month, that is March 2007. It then rose to 1,040 in April, 1,369 in May; 1,809 in June, rising sharply to 2,395 in July and 3,068 in August. September dipped to 2,851 users, and October rose sharply again to 3,326. November was the record month for users with 4,024 vehicles using the Mriehel facility.

The trends for both sides remained constant, with amounts of waste being dumped in this order; construction, wood, metal, mattresses, garden waste, plastic and cardboard.

The bulk of waste deposited within the facilities was made up of construction waste with 1,153.12 tonnes being dumped at the Mriehel site, and 1,137.364 tonnes being dumped at the Maghtab site.

Second on the list was wood, with 1,153.12 tonnes in Mriehel and 783.447 tonnes in Maghtab. Metal came third with 253.19 tonnes in Mriehel, and 173.34 in Maghtab. A total of 113.58 tonnes of mattresses went to the Mriehel site and 88.04 tonnes went to Maghtab.

Next came garden waste, with 87.98 tonnes at Mriehel and 67.652 tonnes at Maghtab. Plastic made up 81.722 tonnes dumped at Mriehel and 46.48 at Maghtab, while cardboard came in at last place with 60.3 tonnes being disposed of at Mriehel and 28.58 tons at Maghtab.

The amount of wood and plastic dumped at Maghtab, and perhaps the overall usage of the site, can perhaps be explained by the fact that it is located in an industrial area as well as being located near a home improvement shop.

The car park of the shop in question lies adjacent to the entrance of the CAS, and this might also perhaps encourage customers to return and dispose of packaging at the said site. It is also more central than the one at Maghtab.

The materials which are collected from the CAS sites are either recycled locally, or sent abroad for treatment. Materials are collected from the 200 or so bring-in sites located around Malta and Gozo. These include glass, metal, paper and plastic. There are plans to have over 400 of these bring-in sites around Malta by the end of next year.