The carbon-encrusted remains of the St Luke’s Hospital incinerator were yesterday unceremoniously dumped in the back of a truck before being taken for proper disposal at the Hazardous Landfill in Ghallis.

The look on everyone’s face as the charred and fossilised remains were lifted into the back of the truck was as poignant as any words could be, against the truly astonishing backdrop of the incineration room.

With all the criticism that has been levelled against the new incineration plant in Marsa, as someone who has seen both plants at close quarters, there is no other way to say it – the contrast is truly blinding.

The media were given the opportunity to step into the old incineration room and the state it was in is beyond belief. The carcass of the 30-year old incinerator was literally covered in carbon. Standing in the incineration room alone caused one’s clothes to smell all day.

Inside the room, one of the employees who ran the old incinerator explained its function.

“It was very primitive technology. The chimney stack itself has five vents leading into it. One of the vents is from the incinerator and the other four merely spout steam from the hospital’s boilers.” This means that the chimney stack itself cannot be removed as yet as the hospital still needs heating. At least, however, it will only be steam that is vented into the atmosphere.

He explained that the technology employed at the old incinerator was “primitive”. He continued: “We used to try and douse the smoke generated with water to try and purify it, but it was very rudimentary and did not make much of a difference at all.” However, he did say that excellent maintenance allowed for the incinerator to be used for 30 years at peak efficiency.

Environment Minister George Pullicino said that now that the Marsa incinerator was up and running, the remains of the old incinerator could finally be disposed of. “The new incinerator is state of the art and in conformity with the regulatory European Union directives,” he said.

He pointed out that the new incinerator will burn animal carcass waste from the abattoir, clinical waste and solvents. “But we must also remember that the clinical waste from Gozo General Hospital will be disposed of as well, so that means another incinerator less,” he said.

Mr Pullicino explained that the Marsa incinerator was funded through e10.8 million from the Fifth Italian Protocol and an additional Lm750,000 by the government to upgrade the plant to be able to dispose of clinical and solvent waste.

He also reminded people that pharmaceutical companies based in Malta have either been storing clinical waste, or have been exporting it for disposal at great cost. “This will allow for the waste to be disposed of safely in Malta, greatly boosting the competitiveness of these companies,” he said.

Mr Pullicino said that through upgrading the Marsa incinerator, the government has saved great capital expenses that would have come as a result of having three single use ovens. “We will also save a lot of money in recurrent expenditure,” he said.

Health Minister Louis Deguara was also present and said that after the opening of the new facility last week, it was a massive contrast to be standing at the remains of the old St Luke’s incinerator.

“Without a doubt, two of the worst polluters of the country’s air quality were Maghtab and the St Luke’s incinerator. Finally, we are rid of both,” he said. However, he also said that there needed to be more separation of hospital waste. “Most of it is domestic waste, in fact great strides have been taken, but still more needs to be done,” he said.

Dr Deguara said that the tender process had started in 1995 with inquiries into the possibility of filters being put in place at the existing St Luke’s incinerator. “This was not found to be feasible and the next step was commissioning a dry-burner. However, the winning bidder could not honour his commitments and we ended up having to commission the new plant in Marsa,” he said.

He said that people would no longer see black smoke belching out of St Luke’s, only steam, which will reduce the incidence of respiratory illnesses. Finding the cloud’s silver lining, Dr Deguara said: “At least, the St Luke’s incinerator served for one thing and that was increasing awareness of the problem of aerial emissions.”

The new incinerator is equipped with a cold storage room which will allow waste from the abattoir to be stored there for five days before disposal, while hospital waste is fed into the oven in individual skips. The whole process is automated and the computerised system will also tell engineers what type of waste to burn so as to achieve optimal burning results. The skips are then washed and disinfected automatically. The first oven can reach temperatures of 1,000°C, but will operate at some 900°C. It is a rotating oven which will allow more efficient burning.

Once the burning is complete, the ashes are compressed and transported to the Ghallis landfill where they are disposed of in the hazardous waste chamber. The smoke and other residues are then filtered into a second burning chamber at a minimum temperature of 850°C. The steam by-product is then cooled to a temperature of 180°C. This is not, however, the end of the process. Before being ejected from the chimney stack, the gases which are left are treated again by being forced to pass through vats containing a type of muslin cloth which is coated in active carbon so as to draw out heavy metals.

Moreover, neutralising chemicals are then added to the mix, including bicarbonate of soda and others to remove acidic substances and a type of Nitrogen Oxide.