WasteServ Malta yesterday officially opened its third civic amenity site in Hal Far, which is expected to cater for more than 50,000 inhabitants from the neighbouring localities, to collect about 5,400 tonnes of domestic waste separated by users on-site.
The new site is located close to an industrial estate; it is spread over 4,250 square metres and costs about e334,000 to build.
During yesterday’s official opening of the site, school children from Birzebbuga Primary A sowed plants in an area close to the entrance of the civic amenity site.
They were also given the chance to use a play area made out of recycled material, within the site itself.
Addressing those present for the official opening, Rural Affairs and the Environment Minister George Pullicino commended the idea to have a play area at the site.
“It is a great idea to encourage parents to bring their children along when using the facilities, since this is another means of educating our children to consider waste as a resource, when managed properly,” said Mr Pullicino.
He added: “The government’s target to encourage separation of waste has been a huge success.
“The operational 200 bring-in-sites will be increased to 400. Works at the civic amenity site in Gozo have also resumed following clearance from Mepa.
“The imminent commissioning of the Material Recovery Facility at the upgraded Sant’Antnin Recycling Plant will also translate into the launch of a new door-to-door packaging waste collection scheme in April to complement the collection of separated material at bring-in sites.”
The Hal Far site is equipped with a system of solar panels and a reservoir to collect rainwater, which is then treated for use in agriculture and to water the plants on-site. WasteServ also plans to install a small wind turbine so that the site will not require the government’s power supply to operate.
This site forms part of a e4.2 million part-EU funded project incorporating two already functional civic amenity sites and two others that are still to be built – in Luqa and Tal-Kus (an area between Ghajnsielem and Xewkija in Gozo). The government forked out e1.2 million of the funds for investment in the facilities required to enable the collection and pre-treatment of separated waste.
By means of these sites, WasteServ is optimising the collection of certain types of waste and increasing the recovery of secondary materials. Manned by trained personnel, the facilities are open from Monday to Sunday (public holidays included) between 7.30am and 5.30pm. People enter the site and drive through with their car to dispose of waste separately in specific containers.
Bulky waste that can be taken to civic amenity site includes dry recyclables such as paper, cardboard, glass, metal, and plastic.
Carpets, tiles, oil, batteries, solvents, neon tubes, paint and other hazardous domestic waste can also be deposited.
For the first time, the public also has the opportunity to dispose of spent medicine (chemicals) and household hazardous waste, like empty cans of paint, in a correct manner to avoid contaminating sewage that is destined for treatment.
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Waste separation
a growing culture
Last year, a total of 11,226,367 kilograms of waste was collected by means of WasteServ’s disposal facilities. Some 2,810,424 kilograms of paper, plastic, metal and glass were collected in bring-in sites – an increase of 25 per cent over 2006.
Another 8,415,942 kilograms of bulky refuse were deposited at the civic amenity sites in Mriehel and Maghtab in 2007, with a total of 38,570 vehicles driving into the sites to deposit household waste.