GRTU waste recovery company GreenMT fined by MEPA

The Malta Environment and Planning Authority has fined GreenMT - the waste recovery company owned by the General Retailers and Traders Union - €5,000 for operating a packaging waste recovery scheme without a valid permit between January 2010 and 24 June 2010.

Although the fine has been paid, the company was still eligible for refunds issued from WasteServ, which are based on the amount of packaging waste, which is collected and delivered to the recycling facilities. 

But WasteServ can still deduct refunds paid on waste collected in the first six months of 2010 if it is ordered to do so by the Approving Body (the government body supervising waste recovery schemes), which is currently carrying out an audit.

This information was revealed by Environment Minister Mario de Marco in reply to a question by Labour MP and environment spokesperson Leo Brincat.

Businesses participating in the scheme benefit from eco-contribution refunds based on the amount of packaging waste recovered by GreenMT or other schemes.

The Approving Body had previously absolved GreenMT of any wrongdoing with regards to grey bags collected from local councils between June and December 2009 following an investigation after a number of local councils claimed that they were unaware that GreenMT had collected grey bags from their locality in that period. But GreenMT insisted that the permit issued by MEPA for that  period allowed the company to recover recyclable material from any source including Local Councils and that they had paid for the collections from their own pockets.

In its 'ruling', the approving body said that it "is in receipt of the invoices that show that GreenMT paid for the waste collected from these four localities in question during the period June - December, 2009."

"Therefore, the Authority concluded that, "it transpires that some form of contractual obligation existed which allowed GreenMT to pay for and collect waste from these localities."