Labour environment spokesmen Joe Brincat and Roderick Galdes noted that Malta would be having a phenomenal increase of plastic waste as a result of the introduction of plastic soft drinks bottles as required by the EU.
It was worrisome, they said, that there were still no clear and concrete plans about the management of all this waste. Malta still did not have the infrastructure necessary to start recycling plastic on a national scale.
The government, they said, had for long been passive and incoherent on the implementation of a national strategy for waste management and it had a duty to explain its position in this regard. What measures have been taken for the country to be able to manage all this plastic waste?
The spokesmen said they understood that over the past few months the government was holding discussions with commercial entities on the implementation of the EU directive on packaging and its waste. Regulations have been introduced as well and local industry had already expressed concern at the financial implications.
The government needed to be more sensitive to these developments and ensure a balance between industrial interests and employment.
They hoped calculations had been made correctly in connection with handling so much plastic waste at a time when the country did not yet have the necessary infrastructure for managing solid wastes.
In reply, the Environment Ministry saw it ironic that the Labour Party was saying that the government had not installed the necessary infrastructure to be able to handle the larger volume of plastic bottles when it was the Labour Party itself which, over the last years, had done its best against every initiative the government had taken to address the challenge.
But in spite of this opposition, the government still implemented its national strategy for waste management, so much so that the country could now meet the obligations created by the packaging waste directive of the EU. Even in its membership negotiations the government had insisted with the EC that the refund system on glass bottles for non-alcoholic drinks was the best environmental measure. The EC saw the system as working against the free market and in the light of this the government had won a three year derogation before switching to plastic.
Three years ago the government had introduced bring-in sites for domestic recyclable waste. The system has been successful, with more recyclable waste being deposited at these sites. To provide for the heavier volume of plastic bottles, additional blue bins were being provided at bring-in sites over the past weeks.
It was unfortunate, the ministry said, that the waste management company, WasteServ, was still meeting opposition from some local councils, even with a Labour majority, against the provision of more bring-in sites. At Hamrun and Zurrieq no bring-in site was available.
At the same time the government was investing heavily in facilities which processed the separated waste deposited at bring-in sites, and the civic amenity sites. A material recovery facility to treat separated waste was provided as part of the e23 million waste recycling plant at Marsascala, which Labour and its local councils had worked against. The facility would start operating later this month. It would also handle packaging waste, including plastic bottles.
It was obvious, the ministry said, that the Labour Party spokesmen’s statement was not based on facts or alternative concrete proposals. Labour did not have a serious plan for waste management.