Recycled waste this year up by 25 per cent

Speaking in parliament, parliamentary secretary Chris Said revealed that a total of 8,700 tonnes of waste were collected for recycling this year, aided by the ‘Recycle on Tuesday’ scheme. There has also been an increase in the use of civic amenity sites. A total of 18,000 tonnes of recyclable waste was dumped in the sites during the first ten months of the year, Said said.

In an evening organised by Green MT yesterday a number of local councils were awarded according to their level of involvement in environmental initiatives, especially in the collection of waste and recyclable waste in their localities.

Green MT has employed the waste-collection system in 41 localities.

The Ħal Kirkop local council won first place for collecting 66kg of waste per head in a year. Ta’ Xbiex came in second with 65kg whilst Birkirkara placed third with 46kg. Recognition was also given to the Local Councils Association and Gozo Region amongst others.

Said talked about government’s “responsible” decisions in the past years, “To increase the collection of separated waste for recycling, to increase the generation of clean energy and reduce air pollution.”

“Such initiatives and others should help Malta achieve the EU- established goal of reducing air pollution by 20 per cent by 2020,” he said.