During 1997, there was only one Public Waste Deposit Site in Gozo for the dumping of MSW and industrial waste, the Qortin landfill, limits of Xaghra. Most C&D waste was deposited at a number of designated sites.

Table 2. shows the estimated amounts of waste that were accepted at this site during 1997. The table also includes historic data for comparison.

Both Tebodin Consulting Engineers and METAP had recommended the transfer of solid waste generated in Gozo to Malta. For this purpose, both had agreed that a waste transfer station should be set up. Preliminary designs and an environmental impact assessment in this respect were prepared in 1995. However during 1997, it became evident that the Gozo waste could not be accommodated at the Sant Antnin composting plant. On the other hand, a more likely scenario emerged, where the "organic" waste from Gozo would be separately composted in Gozo. Accordingly, implementation of the transfer station project was suspended.

During 1997, 96,121ton of municipal solid waste were accepted at public waste deposit sites in Malta (Maghtab and Sant Antnin). This constituted approx. 10.3% by weight of the total waste that was accepted at such sites and on a population of 370,000 this was equivalent to a waste generation rate of approx. 0.7 kg/ca.day. It may be noted that in Europe, domestic waste production ranges from 0.5 to 1.5kg/ca.d, the higher figures generally occurring in more affluent areas.

During the period March 1996 - May 1997, fraction analysis of municipal waste was carried out by sorting out approx. 1.4 ton of solid waste arising from each of 20 localities in Malta. The waste was sorted into 17 different fractions. Table 3 shows the composition of municipal waste that resulted from this study:

Mean

Min

Max

Since 1995, responsibility for the collection of municipal and commercial waste, and for public cleansing rested on Local Councils. Local Councils financed waste collection from the funds that Government allocated to every Local Council on a yearly basis to cover expenditure incurred in fulfilling their responsibilities. In some instances, Local Councils applied for and were allocated extra funds for special approved projects.

To fulfil their waste management obligations, Local Councils issued 2-3 year contracts, mostly to private contractors, for the collection and transportation of the waste to disposal sites. Waste contractors used Refuse Compaction Vehicles (mostly of max. capacity of 4 ton), open trucks and skips.

Local Councils opted either exclusively on the door to door (kerbside) system, or on a hybrid system, ie. partly using the door-to-door system and partly using the "bring" (skip) system. They gave high priority to cleanliness and absence of litter in their localities. They invested in providing the public with litter bins and skips to discourage the abandonment of waste. They did not invest, however, on systems that encouraged the separate collection of waste components.

Of the 9,687 ton that were accepted at the Sant Antnin Composting Plant during 1997, approx. 60% were uncompostable residues, mostly plastics, glass and metals. The metals were transferred to private scrap yards while the rest were dumped in the landfill. The "organic" component was composted using the open windrow system, the product raw compost was refined and left in the open to mature. The compost produced was sold at LM 5 per tonne in bulk, mostly to farmers, and at LM 0.30 per 4 kg bag for garden and potting use. This open composting system brought huge problems with odour emissions to the nearby residential villages. Various studies were carried out to try to solve this problem and it was only when the EcoPod system of enclosed composting was introduced that the problem was very much reduced. The EcoPod system of composting is an enclosed system enabling controlled release of the odour.

Current legislation does not reflect corresponding state-of-the-art environmental legislation in developed countries. The main shortcomings are as follows:

• archaic and fragmented legislation
• lack of effective incentives to encourage preferred waste management options, rather than landfilling
• any controls that exist are incidental and not conducive to the sustainable management of waste.

There is a need to adopt measures that have been developed overseas, eg. EU Member States. Local factors may require the adoption of even stricter controls.

When Malta becomes a Member State of the European Union, full conformity with its policies would need to be achieved. Since Waste Policy forms a very important part of European Environmental Policy, it makes sense to look at EU legislation on waste. The EU Commission has published a number of Directives, Decisions and Regulations that pertain to solid waste management.