Government steps in to deal with fallout from dispute in Gozo over recyclable waste

Recyclable waste in Gozo that had been accumulating for some days has started to be collected by a private contractor engaged by the government, it said in a statement.

The considerable amount of waste that had started to pile up across Gozo is the result of an ongoing dispute between service providers and local councils, over charges paid for the waste’s collection.

Last month, Green MT, one of the schemes responsible for the collection of recycling waste, informed local councils in Gozo that they would need to start paying for the collection service as of the 1 September.

The local councils however, refused to pay the extra premium for the service, leaving people unable to dispose of the recyclable waste.

According to a joint statement by the Gozo ministry, the Environment ministry and the Local Government secretariat, the government was, “in light of communication in August between Green MT and a number of local councils, committed to taking the necessary steps from a holistic point of view, to find solutions on the collection of recyclable waste”.

The ministry said it had collected waste left at bring-in sites in Marsalforn and Xlendi itself. A private contractor was also engaged by the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) to collect rubbish from, and to clean bring-in sites at Munxar, Ghasri, San Lawrenz, Zebbug, Kercem, Fontana and Gharb.

This, the government said, was being done without prejudice to any legal action that ERA, as the regulator, could take against concerned parties. It said that this had already been formally communicated to all parties.