Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1478966
NEWS 7 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 14 SEPTEMBER 2022 European Commission concerned at 'limited progress' in waste sector CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 It comes in the wake of an in- crease in the amount of waste that was landfilled between 2017 and 2019. In its 2019 report, the commis- sion had specifically called for an increase in taxes on landfilled waste. Now, the commission is calling for the introduction of "progressive and effective in- struments to curb the landfill rate." The commission suggests that "revenues" from these instru- ments should finance "measures to improve waste management." The report notes the "limited progress" in the waste sector and calls for further action to ensure the collection and treatment of recyclable waste and introduce curbs on the disposal of recycla- ble waste in landfill sites. The report notes the adoption of a new waste management plan, and Malta's plans to in- crease its waste management ca- pacity with new infrastructure to reduce dependency on landfill- ing. This is a reference to plans to construct a waste incinerator and organic waste processing plant at Maghtab. But the report also calls for ur- gent reforms and investments in waste management and the circular economy to move away from heavy reliance on waste disposal in landfills. "Malta needs to further cap- italise on turning waste into resources, thus advancing its transition to a more circular economy," the report says. It notes that Malta's recycling rates continue to be too low. Not only was Malta on course to miss its 2020 target to recycle 50% of its municipal waste and subsequent targets, but it has al- so seen a year-on-year increase in the weight of landfilled waste per capita. Landfilled waste increased from 530kg/year/inhabitant in 2017 to 636kg/year/inhabitant in 2019. The material recycling rate also remains low, and actually decreased in that period from 74 kg/year/inhabitant to 62kg/year/ inhabitant for the same years. And while organic waste has been separately collected door- to-door since 2018 with an aver- age of 25,750 tonnes collected in the last three years (2019- 2021), "its treatment does not qualify as recycling". Presently organic waste is treated and used for lin- ing the landfill. The report refers to a 2015 study undertaken by the com- mission to investigate the situ- ation in all 27 Member States on the landfilling of untreated non-hazardous municipal solid waste. For Malta, the commission se- lected for its investigation the Ghallis landfill site for non-haz- ardous waste. The Commission study not only revealed treat- ment shortcomings at this site but revealed that "substantive amounts of waste are landfilled without treatment". The reason for this was because there is not enough treatment capacity in the country to treat all the waste disposed of in the landfill sites. In comparison with the EU av- erages for recycling and landfill- ing rates, Malta has made very limited progress over the past decade. The material recycling rate for municipal waste in 2019 was 9.9%, the same as in 2018 and below 11.1% in 2017. This is well below the EU average of 47.7 % (EU 2019) and shows insuffi- cient improvement overall. The report says these dismal records show that "there has been a deterioration in waste management in Malta, as the landfill rate has increased, and the recycling rate has decreased in the reported years". In view of this deterioration the implementation of the pro- gramme of action suggested by the commission "is a greater pri- ority than ever before, and will help to reverse these negative trends, including for municipal waste generation". NICOLE MEILAK THE Justice and Peace Commission with- in the Curia has urged Maltese authori- ties and politicians to prioritise lives after a four-year-old girl died of thirst in Mal- ta's search and rescue zone. In a statement, the Commission said that politicions should "prioritise the saving of lives and refrain from using lan- guage that fans the flames of indifference" after a young girl died of dehydration whilst stranded at sea. Loujin, the four-year-old girl in ques- tion, was one of 62 people who spent days in distress drifting in Malta's search and rescue zone close to Crete. The Commission's President, Daniel Darmanin, said that the migration issue is complex and complicated. "However, when it comes to rescue at sea, we can never lose sight of one simple truth: there aren't some human beings who are more worthy of our consideration, care and protection than others." "We seem to have gotten used to this tragic and avoidable loss of life. When these people cry for help, no one seems to be listening. And if we are listening, we don't seem to care enough to do some- thing about it." President Emeritus Marie-Louise Colei- ro Preca was equally disappointed by the news that Malta was one of the reported countries that initially ignored pleas to help the distressed migrants last week. She circulated a photo of Loujin to her own Facebook feed, saying the photo represented "the injustice against those who have as much a right as I do to live in peace, not war". The migrants on board spent 10 days at sea after setting sail from Lebanon. A Mo- roccan-Italian activist had told the Asso- ciated Press that she and other activists tried pressing Maltese, Italian and Greek authorities to authorise nearby ships to rescue them days before the actual rescue took place. A cargo ship eventually rescued the people on board, but requested help from Malta's Rescue Coordination Centre after two of the people rescued were uncon- scious. One of these was the four-year-old Loujin. The Maltese authorities have long-adopted a policy of non-communi- cation with rescue NGOs, making it hard to know whether any action if at all was taken in response to the calls for help. Malta's SAR stretches across a vast area in the central Mediterranean from Tuni- sia to Crete. It is Malta's responsibility to coordinate rescue efforts in this zone by directing ships that are close by to inter- vene and disembark the rescued people in the closest, safest port. A vigil will be held in remembrance of Loujin, and other lives lost as sea this summer, on Friday at 6:30pm near the Church of Our Lady of Liesse in Valletta. Curia urges politicians to 'prioritise lives' after four-year- old girl dies in Malta's search and rescue zone Loujin (left) died from thirst after spending days at sea