Oppostion calls on Government to address hazardous waste issue seriously

Addressing a press conference this morning, Brincat described the government as “a lost government endlessly hiding and running away from the issue of hazardous waste.”

A parliamentary question set by the Labour’s spokesperson (and which dates back to February 2009), was only answered this week. Brincat said that it is shameful how, 20 months later, the information requested was not given as “the Prime Minister is still working on a plan.”

Brincat reiterated that this answer shows that the government does not want to “tie himself with political responsibility on the subject.” Brincat claimed that the government had no real plans on how to collect and dispose of hazardous waste.

“As what happened with the BWSC and the black dust, Gonzi has decided to keep his mouth shut,” Brincat said, referring to the fact that, even though the parliamentary question was addressed directly to him, Parliamentary Secretary Mario de Marco was the one to answer.

The Opposition environment spokesman also reminded that a hazardous waste disposal facility has still not been set up.

“Even though Francis Zammit Dimech had promised such a facility to be set up at Maghtab by 2004, six years on, hazardous waste is still dumped at Maghtab without the necessary precautions and procedures taking place.”

Referring to recent comments made by the Chairman of Wasteserv during a radio interview, Brincat questioned whether the case has been examined by the Department of Environmental Health.

During the interview, the chairman had said that flyash from the Marsa incinerator was exported because of the high levels of heavy metal found in it.

“He did not clarify what may have caused the high level of metal and whether it posed any risks to the people living nearby and the nearby abattoir in particular,” Brincat said.