Wied Incita quarry will take construction waste after government intervenes

The government has decided to impose a fixed €12 per tonne disposal fee for construction waste, at the Wied Incita quarry in Attard.

The decision comes days after Infrastructure Malta halted all roadworks, claiming there were no construction waste disposal landfills to take in the debris.

But after Cabinet met on Tuesday, the government intervened in the market to drive down the price for the disposal of waste – an indication that the market was being prevented from further disposing construction waste due to the high price of disposal, around €18 per tonne.

The agreement was reached with negotiations with the Malta Developers Association, and the Environment and Resources Authority, with operators of quarries. More facilities are said to be about to be announced shortly.

Sea dumping of construction waste not excluded after roadworks stop due to lack of open quarries

Roadworks suspended last week are now scheduled to resume on Wednesday.

Roadworks were stopped last week after Infrastructure Malta CEO Frederick Azzopardi claimed there was no availability of dumping sites for the disposal of construction and demolition waste, including dredged material.

However, MaltaToday is informed that Malta still has a supply of quarries and voids, but which not all are taking in construction waste. This has pushed landfilling prices up. “There are many readily-available quarries to take in construction waste, but they are not ready to landfill it at just any price,” an industry source told MaltaToday.

The same source claims that roadworks contractors are usually the owners of their own quarries, who however refuse to landfill in their own quarries at the prices they dictate. “There is no time-frame for them to landfill their quarry. Owners want to exploit this resource for as long as they want.”

Government had once mooted the possibility of expropriating quarries to solve the issue of construction waste, but this would cost millions.

Azzopardi put the onus of the decision on the Environment and Resource Authority, saying that the suspension would stay in place until it makes necessary provisions for the disposal of such construction, demolition and dredged material.

But in a rebuttal from the ERA, the regulator said there are 31 quarries permitted to accept construction waste, six of which for recycling construction waste only. “The ERA took stock of the quarries in Malta and Gozo in November 2019 where it emerged that there are a number of disused quarries that may be restored. The authority gives precedence to the infilling of disused quarries, whereby sea dredged material is permitted to be dumped at sea at the official spoil ground off Valletta Harbour.

“The ERA expects all applicants and contractors to seek proper waste management facilities prior to commencement of works that are known to generate any quantities of construction waste.”

The ERA said it cannot fulfil the obligations of operative entities, whether public or private, in their course of contractual obligations with third parties. “The ERA has always been available to facilitate negotiations between contractors and quarry operators, however it is the responsibility of the entity generating the waste to secure proper waste disposal in line with sustainable environmental goals.”

The ERA said it will introducing regulatory measures to bring in line the quarrying sector, which for the past years has been largely unregulated.