Malta generated 269,316 tonnes of municipal waste in 2015

In 2015, municipal waste generation in Malta amounted to 269,316 tonnes, an increase of 5.1 per cent over 2014, which is the highest increase that was registered since 2011.

On a per capita basis, this amounted to 620 kilograms, data released by the National Statistics Office showed.

Mixed municipal waste which is covered by the black bag waste collection made up 67.9 per cent (182,763 tonnes) of the total municipal waste generation in 2015, increasing by 5.0 per cent over the previous year.

Read more: Only 6% of Malta’s municipal waste is being recycled

The Green/Grey bag collection of mixed recyclables went up by 15.8 per cent, contributing 5.5 per cent (14,926 tonnes) to the total municipal waste generation (Table 1).

Municipal waste treatment

During the year under review 92.8 per cent of the total amount of municipal waste treated was disposed at the Għallis landfill.

The bulk of this waste comprised mixed municipal waste (59.0 per cent) followed by rejects from the mechanical treatment of municipal waste (16.2 per cent).

Material recycling occupied a share of 6.9 per cent from the total municipal waste treatment. At 57.6 per cent paper and cardboard made up the bulk of recycled amounts, followed by glass at 13.3 per cent.

In 2015, no municipal waste was composted since the output of compost from the Sant’Antnin Anaerobic Digestion plant was landfilled at Għallis.