Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1446843
11 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 30 JANUARY 2022 OPINION Record-breaking results on waste TWO years of reforms and record-breaking results. In waste management, we had literal- ly no time to waste – we quickly embarked on a process I can now confidently say led Was- teServ from strength to strength, in line with a brief from Prime Minister Robert Abela for a strong sustainable waste strategy, and to de- liver a reform worthy of the next generation's environmental ambition. We put together a new board of directors, and a management team with the required determination and track record to deliver what was required, and to do it quick. A few months later, new large-scale recycling set- ups were started and every six months, the team managed to double the performance of the previous six. Two years down the line and we look back at 2021 as the most productive ever year in WasteServ's history: 19,000 tonnes of recy- clable materials delivered back to the econ- omy. At the same time, we secured the largest ever government investment in waste man- agement, that standing at half a billion euro has the potential to put Malta at the top of all international score sheets. The road to reforms is never easy, and this was no exception. Waste is particularly com- plex and full of challenges in itself. Add the onset of the pandemic and a hard-hit front- line sector and the task appeared to be ex- tremely complicated, at times unreachable. However, hard work and a motivated work- force that understood the need to excel to deliver a better environment to our children were key to obtaining such record-breaking results. Back in 2020, when most of the island's workforce was operating from the safety of their homes, we started the rudimentary recycling line. The encouraging results al- lowed us to venture further, and the line was later complimented with a semi-automated recycling line -- produced in-house – for fer- rous cans. Once these two lines obtained their max- imum potential productivity we shifted op- eration to a 24/7 basis paving the way to the best-ever results obtained by WasteServ. But we did not stop there. Just a few days ago we inaugurated a new recycling line to process glass material. We will now be in a position to work more efficiently and to sep- arate clear from coloured glass. This invest- ment was also possible following the suc- cessful campaign on the need for the public to deliver clean glass to WasteServ, with the quality of the delivered material now stand- ing at around 99%. In the coming days we will also be launch- ing a large-scale campaign on the need to improve the quality of the grey and green bags, so that together we continue to reach new highs. Concurrently, we announced the plans for the ECOHIVE strategy and the extremely laborious preparatory work was put in full swing. Five state-of-the-art facilities in de- sign and major procurement and permitting processes are underway. This is a vision that will allow Malta to move away from its past and predominant reliance on landfilling and to do away with the nasty environmental im- pacts associated with landfills. More than this, all waste streams will be turned into resources, converting a problem into an asset in a 100% circular economy framework. Thousands of tonnes of recycla- bles, agricultural grade compost, and around 5% of the islands' baseload energy demand coming from a resource that previously went to waste. We also looked with determination at some of Malta's largest environmental wounds. Past landfills that for years have inflicted se- vere impacts on the natural habitat in their vicinity and on the thousands of people im- pacted by the various negative attributes coming from these sites. Look at them now: Wied Fulija in Żurrieq is visited by hundreds of people every week to enjoy the thousands of trees and shrubs that have been planted in the area together with some of Malta's most scenic natural views, and the Qortin land- fill rehabilitation in Gozo a few weeks away from its inauguration as a public space for everyone to enjoy. On the greening side we also launched a new branch within WasteServ and in just over a year GreenServ is already managing around €10 million worth of projects that are intended to inject some of Malta's dens- est urban areas with a much-needed green uplift. Apart from these projects of a medi- um-scale that have already started, studies and preparations on two large-scale revolu- tionary projects are currently underway: the roofing of the Santa Venera tunnels and the pedestrianisation of St. Anne Street in Flo- riana. The achievements of the hard work under- taken in the last two years are evidence that we shall succeed in delivering the environ- ment that we have always been duty-bound to nurture. This is what our youngsters want, and they deserve nothing less. We will continue to work day and night to meet this ambition, and the more people become sensitive to this mission the better the results we obtain. We all have a role to play by making small life- style changes that will ultimately result in a much better quality of life. the leader of the Labour Party. In fact, if he is at all Prime Minister today… it is precisely because he gave his supporters the impression that he would NOT be 'dancing to the tune' (as he seemed to be do- ing, on that catwalk) of NGOs like Repubblika, Occupy Justice, et al. Either way, the question remains. Did Robert Abela even pause to think how his own supporters would interpret his actions... his body-language… his remarkable U-turns, and his extraordinary feats of political acrobatics? Be honest: it doesn't really look like it, does it? But there is more. I'm beginning to suspect that someone in that party must really have (belated- ly) taken the Prime Minister to one side, and given him a bit of an earful. For now he seems to be overcompensating for his earlier mistake… by equally disconcert- ing that other section of his own support-base. You know: the ones who DO be- lieve in the 'rule of law'; the ones who are not 'traditional Labour voters'… but who voted Labour in 2013 and 2017, because they actu- ally identified with Muscat's 'pro- gressive, moderate' rhetoric, etc. In other words: Robert Abe- la's reaction was to shoot down the PN's 'package of 12 legisla- tive bills', before they even had a chance to be discussed in parlia- ment. And this, I need hardly add, can only create much bigger prob- lems for Abela. For one thing: because it simply deflates any reason the more moderate vot- ers may still have, to vote Labour in the forthcoming election; and for another… because it succeeds in achieving what even I thought was utterly impossible, until just a couple of weeks ago. It gives the Nationalist party an opportunity to get its act togeth- er… and actually put up a fight. Think about it for a second: what is the one thing people have been criticizing about the Nationalist Party, ever since 2004? The fact that – after EU accession – it nev- er bothered forging any kind of new political identity of its own. On the contrary: for the past 18 years, the PN has been consist- ently asking for our vote… simply because 'it exists' (and, of course, because 'it isn't Labour'.) But by rejecting what is, effec- tively, the equivalent of a 'poli- cy-vision for the future'… Rob- ert Abela has actually spared the PN the hassle of even coming up with an electoral manifesto. It's all ready, right there, in those 12 pro- posals: 'Vote for us, and we'll give you THIS'. And instead of doing what I would have advised him to do, were I in the room myself (i.e.: 'try and sneakily turn it round, so it looks like YOUR proposal, not theirs'…) Robert Abela simply… threw it away. By my count then, Robert Abela has somehow managed to piss off both sides of his own party's 'su- per-majority' – the ones who have always voted Labour; and the ones who defected from the PN over the last two election – in the space of just one (1) week. At which point, you really do have to ask: whose side is he even on? Aaron Farrugia Aaron Farrugia is minister for the environment