Burnt down Sant’Antnin recycling shed to be rebuilt

Environment minister Jose Herrera said in parliament today that a new shed, for sorting waste material for recycling, is to be built on the same site of the Sant’Antnin plant which was damaged by a blaze in May 2017.

The fire had occurred a few days after Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had pledged to close down the plant over a period of seven years.

This was revealed by Herrera in response to a parliamentary question by Nationalist MP Karol Aquilina on what plans WasteServ Malta had regarding the Sant’Antnin plant which had been damaged earlier this year.

Herrera elaborated that the fire had only affected part of the plant, known as the Material Recovery Facility (MRF), which dealt with the separation of recycling material. The material which used to be separated at the MRF is now partially being temporarily separated at the North Plant in Maghtab, and partly being exported.

Once the ground where the old MRF was located is cleaned, a new recycling shed will be built, and this is expected to then be dismantled and moved to a new site within a period of six to seven years, as the Prime Minister announced in May.

When asked whether a location had been identified for the shed to be moved to, Herrera explained that the decision will be taken by the planning authority after studies and an environmental impact assessment are carried out, adding that it “may or may not be moved to Maghtab - it will not necessarily be placed there. We want the new facility to have as small a footprint as possible, and to cost the least it can.”

He also said that once the new waste-to-energy plant is built, 40% of the total waste which is currently being disposed of in Maghtab will no longer be put into engineered landfills.