From Mr K. De Jong
A few years ago, Wasteserv under contract with the Government of Malta initiated the commendable process of recycling used edible oil to turn it into biodiesel.
Good quality containers were made available against a deposit and a few responsible citizens and foreign residents faithfully handed in their used oil and collected empty containers at the same time.
Regretfully, this campaign did not achieve the success it deserved for two reasons:
1. Very little publicity was given to the scheme – very few of my Maltese friends had ever heard of the existence of this form of recycling, let alone of any special bring-in stations.
2. For the Sliema, Gzira, St Julian’s, Swieqi and St Andrews area, the bring-in locations (petrol stations) were limited to TWO! One at the top of Savoy Hill, Sliema and the other at Wembley’s Garage in St Andrews.
While general waste is collected every day and paper, glass, metal and plastic can be taken to a number of bring-in sites, the recycling of used cooking oil (causing considerable damages to the drain systems and the environment) has apparently disappeared from Minister Pullicino’s agenda.
Disregarding the exact dates and hours last January, the saga started when my wife went to hand in two oil containers at the petrol station at the top of Savoy Hill to find it had closed down and has remained so ever since New Year’s day. No notice, no information where to take the used oil.
She then phoned the Sliema Council to obtain information on an alternative take-in location. They had no relevant information and directed her to WasteServ.
She phoned WasteServ Head Office, which also could not give any relevant information and directed her to WasteServ – Gozo!!
She then phoned WS Gozo and was told that Wembley Garage was the other bring-in location.
The following day she travelled to St Andrews only to discover that Wembley had not received empty containers for quite some time.
She contacted WS Gozo again to report this failure. They assured her a few days later that Wembley would certainly have empty containers available now. Again she travelled to St Andrews to receive the same information as before: No MT containers!!
Last Thursday week, my wife attended a social function at Villa Arrigo. Since both Robert Arrigo and his wife, the Sliema mayor, were there she approached Mr Arrigo to voice her complaint, especially about the lack of information from the Sliema council. As soon as she returned home the Sliema council phoned, assuring her that they had contacted WasteServ, which assured them that the containers were definitely available at Wembley Garage.
Last Friday my dear wife, who doesn’t give up easily, returned again to Wembley’s in St Andrews where she was laughed at for being so dumb as to return the third time for these non-available containers!
Subsequently, I decided to write to the newspaper in the hope that the Pullicinos, the Harry Vassallos and all relevant environmentally conscious and responsible people and organizations take note and assist to redress this gross neglect for the good of our small, very dense society.
You can’t expect busy housewives who often don’t have a car available to travel from Sliema to Mriehel, where we have just found out there seems to be a bring-in station.
Kees de Jong
SLIEMA