Waste: initiatives for 2019 - Joe Attard

Waste management has been denoted by the government as a 2019 Budget priority. In itself this shows that in recent years during both administrations we have lacked the guts to introduce initiatives or legislation to face this growing waste scenario.

I will outline a number of proposals which the government should consider in order to achieve results in relation to the managing of waste and with an aim to reach ever-increasing recycling targets.

Proposal 1: Legislate mandatory separation of waste at source.

Residents and commercial establishments, authorities, offices and the Horeca industry would all be obliged to separate waste. Today, waste separation is voluntary and this is one of the reasons why there are no economies of scale and why targets are not reached or exceeded.

This legislation would support Wasteserv’s current initiative to provide separation bins to each household. Without mandatory legislation to support this initiative, the bins provided would finish as receptacles for onions or potatoes.

Proposal 2: Increase landfilling cost to its real cost.

In 2012 the landfilling cost was estimated at €60 per ton excluding VAT. The then administration had increased...