MEPA approves two waste treatment plants for Maghtab and Ghallis

The Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA) Board approved planning permission for the construction of two waste treatment plants in the Maghtab and Ghallis area, limits of Naxxar.

In its announcement, Mepa said the two approved planning applications which include a Mechanical Treatment Plant and the Biological Treatment Plant are in line with the National Waste Strategy and will ensure that Malta continues to reach its 2020 reduction of waste targets, which were agreed with the European Union.

The authority said the Mechanical Treatment Plant will handle the solid recyclable parts that will be sieved and fractioned in the various waste streams of metals, plastics, woods and glass. The organic fraction will be turned to a sludge which will be transferred through a pipeline to the Biological Treatment Plant which together with the manure deriving from farms will be processed in a soil enhancer.

"This Mechanical Treatment plant, which will be constructed within the Ghallis area, will treat all material which will be derived from the daily collection from most areas of Malta and Gozo with the exception of the material that is already being taken to the St. Antnin Plant in Marsascala. The plant will also incorporate a wet pre-treatment area, a refuse derived fuel storage, an administration block and a surface car park."

"The Biological Treatment Plant, also known as the Anaerobic Digestion Plant (AD), will be constructed within the Maghtab area, and will be used to treat the organic fraction of the municipal waste which will be directed from the mechanical treatment plant, together with 35,000 tonnes per annum of Cattle manure and 4,000 tonnes of poultry manure."

"The plant will also incorporate a combined heat and power unit which will burn the gas that gets decomposed from the process, which in turn will produce electricity to be fed into the national grid."

Mepa said that "although the area has for the past decades been intensely committed to the disposal and treatment of waste, the Mepa Board imposed a number of conditions to try and mitigate the inconvenience of these two plants for residents living in the vicinity."

The Board insisted that a committee is set between WasteServ (Malta), the local council and residents of the area to ensure that complaints coming from the construction and operation of the plants will be address effectively, the authority also said.

"The Board also requested that adequate enforcement is taken to ensure that all waste vehicles making use of the facilities do not enter through the residential country roads but use the access from the Coast Road."