08th March 2004

There are alternatives to temple landfills

It is now clear from what was reported in the media that the EU will not impose immediate fines on Malta as from 1 May if an engineered landfill (interim or otherwise) is not in place by this date. So it is evident that Malta can do away with an interim landfill, Friends of the Earth (Malta) said today.

Contrary to what Wasteserv's Ing Christopher Ciantar is claiming (Times, March 3), there are alternatives to the proposed landfills near the temples of Hagar Qim and Mnajdra.

WasteServ's management is fully aware that FoE Malta, as well as other environment NGOs, have presented viable alternatives, amongst which is the option to start work on the Ghallis permanent landfill as soon as possible.
Keeping Maghtab option for a few more months until the first cell at Ghallis is completed is considered, by all environmental groups, as being a better option than constructing an interim landfill at Mnajdra.

The ministry for resources and infrastructure and WasteServ have been extremely short-sighted to pin all their hopes on getting a permit for a landfill within metres from a World Heritage Site.

Ing Ciantar is on record stating that a cell for hazardous waste has already been started at Ghallis. FoE insists that work on a non-hazardous cell at the same site should also start as soon as possible so as to avoid the need for an unnecessary interim landfill at Mnajdra. The EIA process on the Ghallis landfill should never have been side-lined and indeed had it continued, we would be near to a more acceptable solution now.