Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/947253
maltatoday WEDNESDAY 28 FEBRUARY 2018 News 7 option which should be limit- ed to the necessary minimum. According to the Directive, the amount of biodegradable municipal waste had to be re- duced to 50% in 2009 and to 35% in 2016. Incineration capacity for municipal waste is unevenly spread in the EU. Germany, France, the Netherlands, Swe- den, Italy and the UK account for three quarters of the EU's incineration capacity. Sweden and Denmark have the highest per capita incineration capaci- ty followed by the Netherlands, Austria Finland and Belgium. In contrast, the southern and eastern parts of the EU are practically devoid of dedicated incineration capacity and are highly reliant on landfill. The risks of incineration Traditionally incineration has been linked to emissions of cancerogenic dioxins. But improvements in technology have minimised this risk. Modern incinerators are equipped with rigorous pol- lution control technologies to decrease the emissions of po- tentially toxic chemicals. The use of these systems greatly re- duces, but does not completely eliminate the emissions of chemicals from incinerators. Incinerators are also less tax- ing on land than engineered landfills which also produce green house gases like meth- ane. But while limited space for landfills may spur govern- ments to encourage recycling, incinerators may discourage such efforts. The major criticism leveled at incineration now is its im- pact on the circular economy. To make a profit and repay investors of large modern fa- cilities in Europe, incinerator operators need a guaranteed stream of waste. The operators sign contracts with munici- palities to provide a certain volume of waste over a long period of time, often 20 or 30 years, effectively committing municipalities to generate a certain amount of waste. Yet having an incinerator does not exclude higher rates of recycling. As it turns out, countries with the highest rates of gar- bage incineration – Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, for ex- ample, all incinerate at least 50 percent of their waste – also tend to have high rates of recycling and composting of organic materials and food waste. However, Germany incin- erates 37 percent of its total waste and recycles 45 percent – a considerably better recy- cling rate than the 30-plus percent of Scandinavian coun- tries. Malta may still increase re- cycling substantially above current levels even if incin- eration is used. But this de- pends on a stricter legislative framework. In fact the Maltese Government is also expected to start preparations on new mandatory rules obliging peo- ple to separate their waste. But will any progress that is done in the next five years to encourage recycling end up being undone by erecting a monster which needs to be constantly fed to operate? According to Friends of the Earth international; incinera- tors create a massive demand for rubbish for many decades and most of such rubbish may be recyclable. Incineration also produces greenhouse gas emissions – a typical incinerator converting waste to electricity produces around 33 percent more fos- sil fuel-derived carbon dioxide than a gas-fired power station. In contrast, recycling saves greenhouse gas emissions by avoiding the need to extract and process primary resources. Incinerators also produce bottom ash which contains contaminants but can also be recycled into concrete or as- phalt. jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt Modern incinerators are equipped with rigorous pollution control technologies to decrease the emissions of potentially toxic chemicals Malta may still increase recycling substantially above current levels even if incineration is used. But this depends on a stricter legislative framework THE use of the grey bag for recycling has increased by almost 15% over 2015, and black bag mixed waste has now gone down by 5.8%. The figures, issued by the National Statistics Office, are a sign of growing recycling habits by Maltese families. Almost all of Malta's treated waste was landfilled in 2016, namely 92.2 per cent of the 249,711 tonnes of municipal waste that was treated. In total municipal waste amounted to 282,709 tonnes, up by 13,049 tonnes over 2015. On a per capita basis, this amounted to 642 kilo- grams, which is 3.4 per cent higher when compared to 2015. Mixed municipal waste comprised 62.8 per cent (177,464 tonnes) of the total municipal waste generation in 2016, decreasing by 2.9 per cent over the previous year. Bulky waste, which is also another mixed waste stream, made up 15.4 per cent (43,653 tonnes) of the total waste generation, an increase of 35.6 per cent over 2015. The data breakdown by waste origin shows that the black bag collection from lo- cal councils constituted 48.3 per cent (136,619 tonnes) of the total municipal waste generation in 2016. The equivalent figure for the green/grey bag and glass collection from households was 6.1 per cent (17,113 tonnes). In comparison to 2015, the black bag collection from local councils decreased by 5.8 per cent whilst the green/grey bag and glass col- lection increased by 14.7 per cent. But for the third year in a row, municipal waste that was disposed in bring-in sites has seen a decrease which in 2016 amounted to 4.7 per cent. Municipal waste treatment In 2016, the total amount of municipal waste that was landfilled went down by 10,603 tonnes when com- pared to 2015. The share of landfilling from the to- tal municipal waste treated stood at 92.2 per cent, down from the 92.8 per cent that was recorded in 2015. In 2016, a shift in the compo- sition of waste that was dis- posed at the landfill occurred due to the commencement of operations at the Malta North Mechanical-Biologi- cal Treatment plant. The share of mixed mu- nicipal waste decreased from 59.0 per cent in 2015 to 36.3 per cent in 2016, while rejects from the mechani- cal treatment of waste in- creased from 16.2 per cent to 30.3 per cent. During the year under re- view, the share of material recycling advanced from 6.9 per cent to 7.6 per cent. At 56.0 per cent (10,555 tonnes) paper and cardboard made up the bulk of recycled amounts, followed by met- als standing at 16.0 per cent (3,022 tonnes). In 2016 there was a three- fold increase in the differ- ence between municipal waste generation and treat- ment, mainly resulting from the increase in sorted mate- rial that was held in storage prior to being exported for final treatment. More Maltese families are recycling their municipal waste, NSO data shows A major food importer in Malta is seeking the services of a well-connected Food Service Distributor in Gozo. Interested parties are to contact: Mr. Stephen Muscat CPA 17/1 Kevman, Triq id-Denċi, Mellieħa MLH4110 Email: smuscat@go.net.mt FOOD SERVICE GOZO REGION DISTRIBUTOR