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maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 3 SEPTEMBER 2025
NEWS
linked to the handling of plas-
tics.
Proposed mitigation in-
volves barriers around the site,
wheel-washing facilities and
dust suppression.
According to the study, the fa-
cility will also have indirect en-
vironmental benefits. By divert-
ing recyclables from the landfill,
it will reduce the risk of plastics
entering the marine environ-
ment and becoming accessible
to birds and other wildlife.
The visual impact of the pro-
ject is described as "ugly but
necessary" but the impacts are
minimised by stone cladding
and an injection of greenery
and open spaces.
How the MRF plant will
operate
Waste treatment will begin
with separation at source, typ-
ically using grey or green bags
in households and business-
es, which are then collected
through various collection sys-
tems. Refuse collection vehicles
will deliver the waste to the
ECOHIVE complex, where it
will be received by Wasteserv,
the government agency.
Once on site, the material
streams will be introduced in-
to the processing line via a bag
splitter using loading shovels.
The feedstock will then pass
through multiple stages of sort-
ing, including size segregation,
magnetic separation, ballistic
separation, and optical sorting,
allowing different materials to
be separated efficiently. At each
stage, clean and sorted products
will be extracted for further
processing or recycling.
on expected population increase
The plant's capacity
will cater for
40,000 tonnes per
year of fibre and
30,000 tonnes per
year of containers.
