"Government needs to be fully transparent on its waste-to-energy plans," said Godfrey Farrugia, leader of Partit Demokratiku, ahead of a meeting of Parliament's Standing Committee on Environment and Development Planning on Monday 10 December that will discuss plans to build an incinerator in Magħtab, Malta. The committee meeting was convened following the initiative taken by PD in Parliament.
Farrugia noted how there are "several unanswered questions when it comes to the plans to develop a waste to energy facility in Magħtab," adding, "PD wants the following three questions answered in respect of the Magħtab incinerator:
1. Has government studied the potential impact of the availability of an incinerator on customer attitudes towards recycling? Will Malta still be able to achieve its EU-mandated recycling targets?
2. What assurances can government give with regards to the impact on air quality in the areas around the proposed incineration plant?
3. How will the ash that will be produced by incineration be disposed of? Will it be exported?"
Farrugia noted that waste management is an area that is blighted by decades of maladministration. "Malta is still reeling from consequences of bad planning of the past. We cannot repeat the same mistakes for future generations," said Farrugia.
"To this day, certain central elements of a waste management strategy appear to be missing or are only dealt with as an afterthought. For instance, there seems to be no genuine effort to promote a waste reduction strategy," Farrugia said.
Partit Demokratiku has adopted policy positions that favour a cross-party and structured approach to waste management. In September 2017, its offer to nominate Godfrey Farrugia as a member on the cross-party waste management committee was turned down by government and the Nationalist Party in Opposition. The Nationalist Party in Opposition had opted not to nominate a member of parliament to sit on the waste management committee, despite an invitation by the government to do so. Partit Demokratiku understands that the waste management committee is no longer constituted.
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