AD pokes holes at Labour’s Sant' Antnin recycling plant proposal

Green Party Alternattiva Demokratika has poked holes in the Labour Party’s proposal to decommission the Sant' Antnin waste recycling plant, pointing to a number of issues that might arise.

On Monday, the Labour Party proposed that if reelected for another term in government it would close down the Sant' Antnin recycling plant in Marsaskala over a period of seven years, and introduce new waste recycling processes. The black bag processing facility will be transferred to the new plant in Maghtab, while the area of the Sant' Antnin plant will remain an open space. 

However, AD deputy chairperson Carmel Cacopardo pointed out that the Marsaskala plant had been financed by EU funds, and so dismantling it would mean paying a refund.

“It is not normal that a project which has been financed in this manner is so easily dismantled without the consequential responsibility to refund the funds utilised," Cacopardo said.

He added that shifting the black bag processing to the Maghtab site, would result in increasing the impact on the surroundings, which include residential zones and a touristic area.

Furthermore, Cacopardo said that transporting the waste such long distance would breach the environmental principle of proximity.

“As far as is reasonable one should avoid having large distances between the point where the waste is generated and the point where it is treated."

Instead, Cacopardo suggested the acceleration in the processing of organic waste.

"It would be much more effective, if one has the welfare of the Marsaskala community at heart, if the processing of the organic waste fraction is accelerated. The organic waste fraction processing is moving at too slow a pace, and notwithstanding the small steps forward a lot of difficulties in several localities have still to be addressed," he said.