Studies underway for new incinerator

The Nationalist party is planning to build an incinerator “four times bigger than the current Marsa one,” the Torca reports today. The incinerator “would probably” be located close to the Delimara power station according to the report.

Minister for resources George Pullicino confirmed to The Torca that the national waste management strategy mentions the need for a new incinerator.

Leo Brincat, PL spokesperson for the environment alleged that the PN has kept these plans under wraps due to their political sensitivity so close to a general election.

The national waste management strategy does in fact highlight that the Sant Antnin plant has “insufficient capacity to process all waste.” The same document recognises that “technically the site at Delimara offers opportunities,” but continues by saying that a site selection exercise will be carried out “to determine the most suitable site for the incineration plant.” This policy document has been in the public domain for several years now.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of resources explained to The Torca that a new incinerator is needed in order to treat certain types of waste that cannot be treated using the present technology. The waste to be treated by this new incinerator is known as ‘RDF’.  Processing such waste will lead to the generation of clean energy.

Currently, waste that cannot be treated at Sant Antnin is diverted to landfills. The use of an ‘RDF’ incinerator will result in the generation of clean energy and count towards Malta fulfilling the EU’s targets of clean energy generation.

The Torca reports that feasibility studies for this incinerator are already underway. The tender for these studies was commissioned by the government entity responsible for waste management, Wasteserv, the newspaper says.

Ideally, such incinerators are located in close proximity to municipal solid waste facilities in order to minimise the transportation of such wastes and inconvenience to residents.

Brincat expressed his doubts over such a “mass burn incinerator” given the government’s past “abuses and inefficiencies in the operation of the Marsa incinerator, and its failure to commission an independent audit of this plant.”