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5.12.19 7 NEWS A three-day meeting on the theme of landfill management was held in Malta between 12 and 14 November. is was the ninth 'Inter-regional Exchange of Experiences' for the EU Funded project COCOON, which aims to improve regional policy on landfill management. It sees the participation of Wasteserv, Malta's waste management company and the Environment and Resource Au- thority (ERA) who have teamed up to participate in this Interreg Europe pro- ject. e name Cocoon was inspired by the metamorphic change that waste goes through in the process of landfill mining. e aim of the project is improve the way countries handle landfills. It is par- ticularly pertinent to Malta, which has limited land for landfilling. Indeed, one of the primary goals of the project is to recover land, while also avoiding future hazards to the environ- ment. Working in partnership with a number of EU countries, the project fo- cuses on developing policy as well as in- creasing funding allocations by means of special programmes. Moreover, landfill management pro- jects generate economic development opportunities and create new green jobs. Since the 1950s, Europe has been dis- posing significant amounts of waste in landfills. In fact it is estimated that over 450,000 non-sanitary landfills in Europe have limited environmental protection technologies. In light of this, the Euro- pean Commission has acknowledged that a vision for managing Europe's landfills is urgently required. Landfills are to be considered as dynamic stocks of resources that can be integrated into the economy, while landfill man- agement supports reclaiming land and avoids astronomic remediation and af- tercare costs. is meeting was the last inter-re- gional exchange of experiences for Phase one of the COCOON project and focused on economic and legal aspects related to landfill management. Various good practices from different regions together with plans of action were dis- cussed. Each region will be implementing an action plan which will be monitored during phase two of the project. Dur- ing the event, participants visited the Magħtab Environmental Complex, where they saw how waste is treated at the Malta North Facility and also oper- ations at the Għallis landfill. ey also visited the rehabilitated Magħtab landfill within the same com- plex and were also given a presentation on the rehabilitation project of Wied Fulija landfill in Żurrieq e five-year-long EU funded project is coordinated by I-Cleantech Flanders, a Belgian entity, which brings together eight partners from Cyprus, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Malta. Malta hosts landfill project meeting LONDON Electric Vehicle Company (LEVC) is continuing its export mar- ket growth with the addition of Malta as another new market. Announced t his week, LEVC's zero-emission ca- pable taxi will now be available to customers in Malta through local im- porter GasanZammit. Malta, the small archipelago in the Mediterranean, is advanced in its EV preparation with over 100 charge points already available across the island and plans to increase to 500 charge points by 2020. Given Malta's large appetite to en- courage the uptake of EV's LEVC identified the opportunity to pro- vide one of the first electric trans- port solutions to the region, working closely with local authorities to help accelerate their electrification plans. e Maltese Government offers sub- stantial grants for new EV/ZEC/PiH and wheelchair accessible vehicle purchases and plans to introduce a zero-tax rate on these vehicles. Joerg Hofmann, CEO of LEVC commented: "We continue with our export growth strategy, introducing our brand and products into new EU markets. With its focus on electrifi- cation, Malta is an ideal country for LEVC and will now benefit greatly from our TX electric taxis and later next year, our new electric light com- mercial van" LEVC has seen major demand for the TX model across the UK and Eu- rope, with over 3,000 sold since its launch in early 2018, with drivers and fleet owners enjoying its eCity tech- nology, which combines 80 miles of zero-emissions pure electric range with the flexibility of a total electri- cally driven range of 377 miles - made possible thanks to the on-board range-extender. In addition to savings in fuel and servicing costs, passengers benefit from a comfortable and luxurious cabin capable of seating six people complete with a panoramic roof, on- board wi-fi and charging points for mobile phones and laptops – creating an office environment even when on the move. LEVC's range will grow further in Q4 2020 with the launch of a new electric van, based on the TX Taxi and sharing the same eCity technol- ogy, along with the recently launched TX Shuttle, focused on the growing ride sharing and taxis markets across Europe. ese new products will create fur- ther opportunities across Europe and beyond. By 2022, LEVC expects that 70 percent of the vehicles built at its Coventry factory will be for export while the remaining 30 percent will service the UK. By 2024, the company aims to have fleets of TXs and electric vans operat- ing in major cities around the world. Gasan Zammit representing LEVC in Malta

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