Within the next 18 months, engineering interventions at Maghtab will be complete and once the site is rendered safe and monitoring gives the expected results, the family park will start to be created.

This was announced by Resources and Rural Affairs Minister George Pullicino who pointed out that trees planted five years ago have grown although the terrain is difficult. More trees have since been planted.

A total of €6 million was so far invested in capping works, road formation and 2 kilometres of rubble walls.

There are currently 37 plant cells and 200 more will be planted in the second phase of the project. A total of 11,000 trees will be planted together with 20,000 shrubs.

There will be enough reservoirs to hold 20,000 cubic metres of water for the same plants and trees.

Silt ponds and wreath beds are also being created and these serve as natural filters to stop material from going on the road. The project will cost €16 million in all.

Since 2004 when the landfill was closed, more than 700,000 cubic metres of material were moved and a slope with a very high gradient that was on the verge of collapsing, was removed. The material was spread out and used to create roads.

A total of 400 steel wells were created to remove underground gases and capping was then necessary to close the crevices and stop the gas from leaking in between each tank.

In another part of Maghtab, methane is used to generate energy while bad gases are treated before being released. The level of dioxin in Maghtab and its surroundings has been cut by 99%.

Some 25,000 units of clean energy are being generated per week.

Mr Pullicino explained that while the Ghallis engineered landfill has five levels of protection to avoid damage to the water table, before 2003, everything used to simply be dumped at the old Maghtab site. To solve the problem, €34 million was necessary.

Some 80% of the gases produced by the old dump are dangerous and only 20% is methane and can be used in energy generation.

The situation is completely opposite at Ghallis, where the dangerous gases amount to 20%.

A Regenerative Thermal Oxidiser processes the dangerous gases in between very hot ceramic plates which destroy the bad particles. The energy generated from the extracted methane is in fact used to power this plant and a Combined Heat and Power system.

In the past, the resource was lost and was damaging the ozone layer.

Before 2003, no recycling took place and all waste – including tires and construction material – was dumped at Maghtab. This is the main reason for the high amount of toxic gases produced.

The Sant’ Antnin plant recycles a third of the waste we generate and the rest is sent to Ghallis. EU funds will again be used to create a second recycling plant near Ghallis so that the engineered landfill only takes pre-treated material, Mr Pullicino said. He emphasised, the more we recycle, the less dangerous gases are produced.

The main aim of the work being carried out is to lengthen the life of the engineered landfill, otherwise, a new site would need to be created.

Dangerous gases will die down in 20 to 25 years time.

Bad fumes can still be noticed from time to time because when rain water gets into the dump, oxygen is created causing fires which may be underground. These are gradually being tamed but it takes time for them to stop completely.

Mr Pullicino noted that once the gas generation system is fully stabilised, Maghtab residents will be given energy rebates as was the case with residents in the vicinity of Sant’Antnin plant.