A significant amount of paper and carton in waste recycling bags is being soiled, rendering it unrecyclable. This is about to stop with the introduction of a door-to-door collection for paper and cardboard. As from Thursday, 17 March, residents from Ħamrun, Fgura and Attard will participate in a project for the separate collection of paper and cardboard every Thursday from 7am onwards.
Paper, including flyers, books, newspapers and cardboard boxes, can be placed in shopping bags, transparent bags, cardboard boxes or other suitable containers on the doorstep awaiting collection. Tying in a neat bundle with string is also acceptable.
The current collection on Tuesdays of plastic and metal recyclable waste will continue to be collected in the green/grey bag. In this recyclable bag, one can place plastic and metal recyclable objects such as plastic bottles, clean food containers, metal and aluminium cans.
GreenPak and Wasteserv are working in sync on this pilot project, and together with the respective Local Councils, they will analyse results and determine future operations.
“One of the objectives in this exercise is to assess whether we can successfully mitigate the soiling of paper destined to be recycled,” said, Ing Mario Schembri CEO of GreenPak. “As Malta’s largest waste recovery scheme, we are working with Wasteserv, as we understand the responsibility of being proactive in finding definite solutions to current recycling problems.”
“The success, and indeed the future trends of recyclable waste collection depend highly on the participation of the public,” added Ing Schembri. “It is imperative that paper and cardboard aimed for recycling is not soiled as otherwise this will nullify the recycling process.”
A leaflet is being distributed giving further information such as the materials that cannot be recycled including: toys, waxed paper, nappies, toilet paper, milk and juice cartons. Glass still has to be disposed in bring-in-sites.
For further inquires one can call their respective Local Councils; Ħamrun tel: 2122 2020, Attard tel: 2141 1111, Fgura tel: 2166 4000 or GreenPak Malta on tel: 2166 0233.