Small steps, giant leaps

Following the May 2017 fires which destroyed San’Antnin plant in Marsascala, government-owned company Wasteserv found it increasingly difficult to recycle the thousands of tonnes of recyclable waste collected by GreenPak Coop.

GreenPak collects recyclables through the weekly green/grey bag collections, the monthly door-to-door glass collections as well as from iBiNs, the smart bins network found across the islands for separate glass, plastic, paper and metal waste. So Wasteserv's news claiming that it will be improving its waste recycling operations is great news for GreenPak Co-op.

Since 2017, GreenPak has collected 120,000 tonnes of recyclable waste. The recent announcement that Wasteserv has recycled 18,000 tonnes of such material is a step in the right direction. Nevertheless, many challenges in waste management remain as the amounts of waste going to landfill remains unacceptably high.

Sustainable practices need to be urgently introduced to improve the quality of materials disposed by the public. The EU has for many years recommended that Malta introduces financial incentives to avoid recyclable waste going to landfill. Achieving higher recycling performance requires better waste separation at the householder.

GreenPak is currently in discussions with the Ministry for Environment to address the numerous problems that exist in the sector. The unsustainable collection of mixed waste and its associated costs as well as reducing the inefficiencies at the various Wasteserv plants are among the topics being discussed to avoid the potential collapse of Malta’s still fragile waste management system.