MaltaMedia.com

In 2006 treated-waste, which is carried out by the Sant’ Antnin waste treatment plant, went up to 17 per cent from the 6 per cent of 2002, the National Statistics Office said.

This increasing trend was interrupted in 2007 owing to refurbishment works at the Waste Treatment Plant.

Separate collection of waste fractions gained momentum with the introduction of bring-in sites in July 2003. This type of waste collection has been on the rise ever since, with amounts increasing threefold from 2004 to 2007.

Towards the end of 2006 the first Civic Amenity site was opened and one year later three such sites were operational. These sites, which cater for the collection of bulky-waste fractions from households, collected over 8,000 tonnes of waste in their first year of operation.

Construction waste dropped to 2 per cent in 2007 from the 84 per cent registered in 2000, the NSO said.

However, the share of land-filled municipal solid waste rose to 64 per cent in 2007.

This shift was due to changes in the waste disposal policy, whereby non-hazardous mineral waste began to be diverted from public landfills to disused quarry sites, the NSO said; adding that Non-hazardous mineral waste arising out of large construction projects is also dumped at sea in permitted areas.

Over the past seven years, amounts of managed solid waste have shown fluctuating trends, with the highest amount being recorded in 2004 when 3.1 million tonnes were deposited into treatment and disposal sites.

Non-hazardous mineral waste and debris, which is mainly composed of construction and demolition material, made up the bulk of generated solid waste.

Up to 2003, all solid waste was disposed of in the public landfills of Maghtab and Qortin.