Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1181922
6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 3 NOVEMBER 2019 NEWS Malta, shrunk down The Skinny No 8. Halloween What are we skinning? Halloween Why are we skinning it? It's just passed us, so it's certainly due a quick assessment, don't you think? Is Halloween even that much of a 'thing' in Malta? Surely it's mostly an American thing that sort of trickled down... But that's precisely it. We should talk about how these global trends make their way into Maltese society, and why? Well, the analysis stops and starts with McDonalds, with me. That tells me all I need to know about what you've just said. That may be true in some ways. But I'll play plastic- bemasked devil's advocate this time: I believe Halloween deserves a fair shake and some time in the spotlight. Yes, even the Maltese one. Some members of the clergy regularly urge us to take a more serious stance on Halloween. Is that the kind of thing you're after? No, I don't mean a shallow and overly- censorious approach that assumes the Catholic faith is a de facto objective reality, and that anything that appears to deviate from it is a heretical and toxic intrusion. Then what is there to Halloween apart from sweets (or 'candy') and a cheap excuse to do Carnival during autumn- time? Well, for one, it celebrates the day of the dead. Culturally speaking, death remains taboo, even under the auspices of a seemingly death-and- resurrection obsessed religion like Roman Catholicism. Are you seriously hoping to have some kind of discussion of comparative religious practice while looking straight ahead at a sea of 'Tal-Lira' bought plastic monster masks? Why not? Pop culture has a lot to teach us if we let it, and the horror genre has the kind of folksy roots whose lessons often contain multitudes. And what can the Maltese population in particular possibly learn from the horror genre? The strongmen may not turn out to be the most resourceful. The girls will always be the ones who get the monster. And no matter how safe you feel, it always helps to look behind you. Do say: "Halloween can be fun if it's worst consumer excesses are kept in check, and if we step back to remember that it stands for a feast of the dead, and the dead are great at giving us perspective." Don't say: "It's just an excuse for slutty Carnival, right?" JAMES DEBONO IN the first year since the start of the or- ganic waste collection a total of 27,536 tonnes of organic waste has been col- lected separately in white bags. This amounts to 55kg per inhabitant and ap- proximately 153kg per household. "This positive result surpassed our ex- pectations, making this project a suc- cessful one," Wasteserv's CEO Tonio Montebello told MaltaToday on the first anniversary of the organic waste collec- tion. When comparing data for the same period of the previous year, the amount of waste collected in black bags fell by 23% whilst the green/grey bag waste in- creased by 39%. Glass collection also in- creased by 75%. According to Montebello, the success reflects the effectiveness of the Sort It Out educational campaign, together with the provision of the ventilated bins and bags provided free of charge to every household which made it easier for the public to adapt to the behavioural change and responded positively. "We are still after more public coopera- tion through increased waste separation and adherence to the waste collection schedule in their respective locality.This will not only reduce littering but also in- crease the potential to use waste as a re- source," Montebello said. Composting of organic waste Gases from organic waste collected from households are treated and used to produce energy. In this way harmful gases do not find their way in the envi- ronment. The digestate i.e. the residue left after gases are treated and recovered as ener- gy is presently used as a landfill cover i.e. the layer of compressed earth which is laid on top of a day's deposition of waste in the engineered landfill in Maghtab. Wasteserv is presently investing in up- grading the Sant' Antnin facility in order for this plant to process organic waste only. Once this upgrade is in place, it will conduct studies to determine the prop- erties of the waste received. "This will give us a clearer picture of what can be done with the digestate left at the end of the process." Wasteserv is also planning a new facility for the treatment of organic waste at the Magħtab Environmental Complex in the coming years, where the digestate at the end of the process will "be good enough to be used in the agricultural sector". Civic pride: Maltese reduce waste in black bags by 23% Waste collected in black bags fell by 23% whilst the green/grey bag waste increased by 39%