Iklin Wasteserv plant illegally storing electrical waste, PN MP claims

Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi has said that state run agency, Wasteserv, is storing tons of white goods in an illegally run facility.

“Hundreds and thousands of tons of electric and electrical equipment is being stored there,” Azzopardi said while speaking during the parliamentary debate on the financial estimates of the Environment Ministry.

The site, which forms part of the Bitmac batching plant in Iklin, holds waste for a temporary period of time, before it is exported for recycling.

Last March it was revealed that the government had awarded a €1 million direct order to Bitmac Ltd, to use part of its plant in Iklin to store electric waste from brimming civic amenity sites.

In April, it emerged that the Planning Authority had issued an enforcement notice, against both Bitmac and Wastesrv, over the “illegal change of use”, that of an asphalt plant being used as an electronic waste facility.

The enforcement, which was challenged, is now pending before the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal.

According to Azzopardi, ERA normally allows a limit of 49 tons of electronic waste to be temporarily held, but now the waste has reached several tons.

“When you break the law, Wasteserv takes you to court. In this case, the minister responsible is now letting things fly,” Azzopardi said.

The Nationalist MP also drew comparisons with the fires at the Sant Antnin recycling plant in Marsascala and Maghtab, which were both consumed by fires in 2017 and 2018.

He raised concern over Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF), produced from various types of waste such as municipal solid waste, industrial waste or commercial waste.

Azzopardi stated that if no management plan is taken, the plant poses a risk to nearby residents, after he said that parliamentary questions revealed that fires in 2017 and 2018, were both caused by RDF.

“The situation is beyond out of control,” Azzopardi said in parliament.