Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1485769
6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 NOVEMBER 2022 NEWS MATTHEW VELLA HAVE you been recycling re- ligiously your plastics, organic and municipal waste in the last 10 years? The ritual of Malta's regular and timely waste collection ser- vice seems to have been upend- ed by the plastic recycling 'tax' introduced with the consortium led by Malta's beverages produc- ers and importers, and major su- permarket retailers. Just two weeks into the new system of returning plastic and wine bottles – intact – to re- verse-vending machines, voices on social media are questioning why a stream of plastic, cans and glass once collected at people's doorsteps, has been dislocated to retail points. Malta's new beverage recycling scheme has seen 10c added to the cost of applicable beverag- es, with consumers only able to recoup this charge by depositing the empty containers – intact and with readable barcodes – at vending machines at key super- markets and points across Malta and Gozo. The scheme has been licensed to a private operator, BCRS Ltd, whose directors form part of Malta's largest beverage com- panies, from Farsons to Mars- ovin and General Soft Drinks, among others – associations of importers, manufacturers and supermarkets. The companies have invested €18 million a pri- vately-funded sorting plant at Hal-Far to process collected containers, sort them accord- ing to material type and then exported for recycling. "There is no government contribution to the BCRS investment," the company told MaltaToday. "The entire €18 million investment to build the BCRS infrastructure was raised privately, and the company has not benefited from any government or EU funding." One of the chief motivations behind the privatised scheme is that Malta falls way behind Eu- ropean recycling targets – only 20% of plastic waste is getting re- cycled. BCRS hopes this rate can grow to 90% by 2026, in a market that puts 230 million single-use plastic and aluminium contain- ers every year – mainly waters, beers and ciders, and alcopops. Juice and milk cartons are ex- cluded, as are wine and beer in glass containers. While working as a private not-for-profit op- erator, the beverage container refund scheme is mandated by government laws under EU cir- cular economy rules. But the complaints of those used to the local collection services contracted out to the GreenMT and GreenPak com- panies, have been many in the opening weeks of the scheme. It is the reactions hailing from common misgivings that seem to be gathering steam on social media about this new stream of recycling, with photos of dis- carded plastic not accepted by the reverse-vending machines (RVMs) discarded by the way- side. The Nationalist MP Justin Schembri says the BCRS has turned consumers "into beggars for what is theirs." "So, there's a tax of 10c on For those with misgivings about Malta's 'privatised' recycling scheme, the new initiative simply levies a 10c tax on their beverages 'Privatised' recycling necessary for EU targets, but small business feels the big pinch The Nationalist MP Justin Schembri says the BCRS has turned consumers "into beggars for what is theirs."... "Why not incentivise those that do not recycle with a coupon in the first place? Arm-twisting me this way is shameful."