The thematic talk given by Ms Spiteri focused on the history and current state of landfills in Malta, legal or otherwise.
While waste management legislation was in place prior to Malta’s EU accession, many of the dumpsites were unauthorized. In the early years of the new millennia, a host of new policies were put in place, also in preparation for Malta’s accession to the European Union. Since joining the EU, Malta has transposed the EU landfill directive, adopted new and more robust permitting systems as well as strengthened other supporting waste legislation. It has also introduced practical measures and invested in new waste management facilities.
As of 2014, a Waste Management Plan for the Maltese Islands is in place, with the aim to move waste management up the waste hierarchy, taking into consideration Malta’s unique setting and challenges.
Further steps have been identified such as:
Diverting waste from landfills, by promoting and setting up separate collection systems;
Rehabilitation of old dumpsites; and
Consideration of landfill mining.
The full presentation can be found HERE.
