Organic plant to produce 16,000 tonnes of compost for farms

A projected 16,399 tonnes of compost will be produced annually by an organic processing plant proposed on 20,600sq.m of agricultural land in Maghtab.

The plant will be next to the approved incinerator, which still has to be built, an Environmental Impact Assessment of the project reveals.

The compost produced will abide with EU legislation limiting dangerous impurities and chemicals and unlike that produced from the existing recycling plant which is mostly used as lining for the engineered landfill it can be used directly in agriculture.

The proposed plant will occupy an area presently consisting of nine fields which were until recently used for wheat and hay cultivation on land earmarked for the Wasteserv ECOHIVE Complex.

The facility will be designed to accept a maximum quantity of 74,300 tonnes a year of separated organic waste. The biogas produced from such an amount of waste could yield around 49,000,000 KWh a year in energy. The biogas will be stored in a Biogas Storage Bubble with a storage of 700 cubic metres. The biogas will be dehumidified and cleaned to remove hydrogen sulfide before being used as fuel.

The project will also help the country to achieve landfilling disposal to 10% by weight of the waste generated by 2035.

The diversion of organic waste from the landfill and the production of organic fertilizer will result in a lower release of methane, a greenhouse gas which contributes to global warming.

But the EIA also warns that warmer air temperatures resulting from climate change could alter the rate of decomposition of waste, increase dust and odour nuisance. But the proposed infrastructure together with the continuous monitoring should address these issues.

The visual assessment showed that the scheme would have a moderate to “substantial adverse impact” from all viewpoints during the construction phase whereas a substantial adverse impact during the operational phase.

The use of earth colours and textures is recommended but this will only marginally limit these impacts.