Landfill to get higher again in race against time

Updated at 12pm with WasteServ reaction

Wasteserv wants to extend the Ghallis landfill vertically to fit in a greater amount of waste until a planned incinerator starts operating. 

In a race against time, this is the second time in four years that the national waste agency has presented such an application. 

Plans presented to the Planning Authority show that on the sloped part of the engineered landfill the height will increase by 11m to 17m. The maximum height of the landfill, which was set at 82m above sea level in the 2022 permit, will be retained. 

Red line: shows the height of landfill as proposed now; Green line: shows the height as approved in 2022; Black line-shows height of landfill before 2022 permit

Plans submitted in the application confirm that while the maximum height of 82m approved in 2022 will be retained, the height of the landfill will increase by between 11m and 17m on parts of the site.

Back in 2022 the Planning Authority had already approved plans for increasing the height of the landfill, which gained an additional 850,000 cubic metres of waste storage space.  

At the time it was estimated that this had given the country a two-year respite as the agency worked on new infrastructure to address the waste problem. 

A Planning Authority case officer, recommending approval two years ago, had described “the limited void space” available at Ghallis’s non-hazardous landfill as “the most significant waste management issue at the national level”. 

The  2022 permit allowed Wasteserv to increase the vertical height of the landfill profile to augment its capacity. The permit was issued “to allow for sufficient time to develop alternative waste disposal options”.  

The Ghallis landfill is the only disposal option for non-hazardous waste in a country where most waste is still landfilled in breach of EU targets set by the Landfill Directive. An increase in height of the landfill was considered as a better alternative to the uptake of more land adjacent to the landfill. 

A previous permit to recontour the eastern side of Għallis approved in 2019 had already gained an additional 9 to 12 months of landfill void space. 

The emergency situation facing Malta is a result of decades of procrastination under different administrations on decisive steps to encourage waste separation and recycling, which made incineration unavoidable. 

But with the incinerator taking 40% of the country’s waste, bolder steps will still be required to increase recycling and re-use and decrease landfilling. NSO statistics show that in 2022, 86.2% of all waste was disposed at Ghallis. 

ERA asks for more studies 

In its reaction to Wasteserv’s latest application, the Environment and Resources Authority has called for a stability risk assessment illustrating how the placement of more waste on the site will impact on the stability of the  landfill to avoid the risk of slippages. 

The Superintendence for Cultural Heritage has asked for photomontages of the proposed vertical increase taken from various vantage points. 

WasteServ reaction

Reacting to the article, WasteServ insisted the planning application under discussion does not contemplate any increase in the overall height of the existing landfill. “The works involve the recontouring of existing slopes and are identical to those already conducted on the eastern side.”

“The proposed changes will optimise the inclination slope at the side of the landfill to accommodate more compacted waste within the current footprint. The overall height of the landfill will remain as is, though the gradient will be steeper. This will extend the landfill's capacity and eliminate the need to take up new agricultural land while also maximising the use of the existing sides of the landfill.”

“These essential works will also enable WasteServ to preserve virgin agricultural land and curtail the negative impacts of landfilling. WasteServ has become a pioneer in reducing the impacts of landfilling and in line with this approach it has also managed to reclaim a large tract of land between the Għallis and Magħtab landfills on which a skip management facility is going to be built saving approximately a further 30,000m2 of agricultural land. This application is part of the long-term waste management strategy.”

“WasteServ is also keen to start implementing plans for a much-needed waste-to-energy plant which significantly reduces the need for landfilling and be a boon for Malta’s environment.”