The fire that broke out at the Wasteserv complex in Maghtab on Friday morning is now completely under control, Chairman of Wasteserv Board David Borg said in a press conference.
He said that there were no injuries in the incident and that no part of the complex itself had been damaged.
The fire started from an area where around 30,000 tonnes of Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) is stored, explained Wasteserv CEO Tonio Montebello. RDF is essentially waste that cannot be recycled, such as dirty cardboard or plastic wrappers. It is not clear yet as to how much of the waste stored caught fire on Friday morning.
This waste used to be processed at and exported from the Wasteserv Complex in Marsascala. When the complex went ablaze in 2017, Wasteserv had to re-apply for the international permit to export the waste. This process took eight months, Montebello said.
Till then, the RDF had to be stored. With this material there is always a risk of self-combustion, Montebello said, and as a result it was stored and buried over with fine construction waste to remove all the air.
Wasteserv received the permit to continue exporting RDF last month, and since then has started doing so by exporting the material that was stored in this cell. Given the self-combustable nature of this material, Montebello said that there was always a risk of such a fire occuring.
However, he said, they were prepared for such a risk and with the help of both the civil protection department and the fire extinguishing system that Wasteserv had in place, and also with the decision to isolate this material, the fire was extinguished and a fire that could have been much more damaging was avered.
Minister for the Environment Jose Herrera also praised Wasteserv's decision to isolate the RDF, saying that it had averted a possible tragedy.
He said that an inquiry, led by Magistrate Marseanne Farrugia, had already been called. This joins an internal inquiry carried out by Wasteserv itself.
Asked whether the inquiry into the fire which broke out at the Sant Antnin complex was concluded, Herrera said that the magistrate's inquiry was still ongoing but that the internal Wasteserv inquiry had been concluded. The latter has not yet been published so not to impinge on or affect the conclusions of the former, Herrera said.
Herrera said that the incinerator announced some months ago would be fuelled by this RDF, which would effectively stop Malta having to export this waste, a process which costs around €140 per ton. The incinerator he said, would deal with 40% of Malta's waste.
Asked if there was a timeline available for this project, Herrera confirmed that the tender for the project will be issued in the coming months.
Asked about the toxicity of the smoke that came out of the fire on Friday morning, Herrera said that this was within the remit of the Environmental Resources Authority (ERA) to establish and that they would issue a statement shortly.
In the meantime, Herrera said that it was business as usual and that by the end of the weekend all would be back to normal.
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