19th August 2001

Important information about waste management strategy being kept from the public

Important information about Malta’s proposed waste management strategy is being kept from the public, Moviment ghall-Ambjent, Friends of the Earth (Malta) can reveal.

While the public is being asked to comment on Malta’s proposed waste management strategy by 21 August, this is proving to be difficult because very important information is being kept out of the public domain.

The waste management strategy prepared by EU approved consultants Carl Bro, is based on figures and assumptions that are being kept under lock and key by the same consultants.

While FoE Malta is aware that the model prepared to arrive at certain conclusions in the proposed strategy has a commercial value, it believes that the public should have access to the figures and assumptions used in the model.

FoE Malta is not asking for the model, but only for those figures and assumptions that it considers important. The EU approved consultants are proposing an incinerator for Malta, but will not release the relevant documentation to back up their conclusions.

Malta cannot be expected to sit back and accept decisions that are based on workings that will never see the light of day. Given the circumstances under which we are attempting to prepare our submissions on Malta’s waste management strategy, we feel that it is all the more reasonable for us to reject incineration as a waste management option.

The EU consultants, the Federation of Industry, and certain members of the Planning Directorate, who all support the idea of an incinerator for Malta have not been able to present a reasonable explanation as to why Malta needs an incinerator, nor have they presented an argument based on facts and figures.