Malta’s underwater Maghtab has 5 million tonnes of construction waste

A staggering 4.7 million tonnes of construction waste was dumped in the Maltese sea between 2004 and 2018 – but only 16% of this amount was dumped between 2014 and 2018.

A fifth of the total amount of inert waste dumped in to the sea occurred in one single year in 2012, which coincided with works on Smart City in Xghajra.

Waste from construction projects at MIDI, Fort Cambridge, Portomaso was also previously dumped in the sea.

But despite the industrial scale of this dumping, the impacts on the marine environment are still being studied and so far, only a preliminary study conducted six years ago was undertaken.

This means that any revival of sea dumping – now suspended since a government agreement for disposal at the Wied Incita quarry – would take place in the absence of a clear knowledge of its impact on the marine environment.

More comprehensive studies were contemplated in the Water Catchment Management Plan of 2011, to study the impacts of the dump site on the water and sediment quality as well as on supporting species and habitats”. 

But a report presented by Malta to the European Commission on the Marine Strategy Framework Directive in March 2020 still refers to the need for further studies on the impacts of the national spoil ground “which are expected to be undertaken in 2020”.

On Monday the government hinted that it could start dumping construction waste from ongoing road projects in to the sea, after Infrastructure Malta stopped all roadworks, claiming no quarries were available to take construction waste. But Malta has some 31 quarries, all charging market prices that have been refused by agencies and other private companies. A €12 per tonne tariff at the Wied Incita quarry was since then fixed by the government.

In Parliament, Environment Minister Aaron Farrugia said dumping construction waste at sea was a short-term solution. Farrugia insisted that there is still space for construction debris in several quarries, and the issue is about a lack of agreement on market prices.

Amount of waste generated from construction on land disposed at sea 

Decrease in dumping at sea

Official data shows between 2012-2018, the amount of material disposed of at sea at the official spoil ground, decreased from 1 million tonnes in 2012 to 16,000 tonnes in 2016, increasing again to 425,000 tonnes in 2017, and then decreasing to 120,000 tonnes in 2018.

The material disposed of was for the most part (94%) dredge material, with the remaining (6%) inert excavation waste from coastal infrastructural projects.

During the period 2007-2011, approximately 1 million tonnes of waste was disposed at sea. In 2007-2009 the majority of the waste constituted geological material originating from construction and demolition projects on land, while in 2010-2011, the majority of the waste disposed at sea constituted dredged material.

In 2010, 353 tonnes of spoilt cargo (grain) were also disposed at sea. The dumping of waste of sea peaked in the period between 2011 and 2014 when a total of 2.2 million tonnes were dumped.

Since no regulatory framework existed before 2002, the authorities have no idea about how much waste was dumped prior to that date.

The spoil ground had been in use since the time of World War II when the site was used for the dumping of war-damaged rubble in the 1940s.

The designated national spoil ground off Xghajra covers an area of approximately 0.38 square kilometres.

As indicated in an initial 2013 assessment, some of the waste has been dumped beyond the designated area. The area is characterised “by very large boulders” and a variety of anthropogenic (human-created) material.

The seabed in this area is predominantly made up of soft sediments. Of particular note are the turbid conditions – the result of continuous sedimentation from fallout during dumping as well as re-suspension of sediment from the bottom – which physically damage the benthic habitats.

Disposal at sea in Malta is permitted for specific types of waste streams and within the designated ‘spoil ground’. The type of waste which can be disposed at sea includes dredged material, inert geological material and spoilt cargo.