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As Environment Minister George Pullicino hatched plans to eliminate plastic bags, a government-owned company was ordering machinery costing a quarter of a million liri to manufacture them, MaltaToday was told.
Yet another example where the right hand does know what the left hand is doing.
Government owned Plastic Processing Company Limited of Marsa is one of the two large companies manufacturing plastic bags and it installed its new machinery in the weeks following the introduction of eco-contributions. The company was not aware that such a high tax was to be levied on plastic bags and was not involved in any discussions with government authorities prior to the introduction of the tax on plastic bags.
The chairman of Plastic Processing Company Ltd, Victor F Vassallo, told MaltaToday he was not sure what impact the new eco-contributions would have on the company and said it was not easy to tell at this early stage. Vassallo said the company’s revenue was not limited to the sale of plastic bags, but said the eco-tax measure “would affect the company’s cash flow”.
The machinery purchased by the company was intended to produce normal plastic bags, which are now subject to a 6c eco-contribution each, and not degradable ones, but Vassallo said the company has now produced degradable bags, which it has not sold yet as it is waiting for the results of tests which would confirm the bags qualities.
51 percent of the shares in that company are held by the Malta government with the rest being held by the Libyan Arab Foreign Investment Company (LAFICO).
Minister George Pullicino has vowed to “kill the use of plastic bags before they kill us.”
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