New waste sorting facility planned for Ħal Far

A new €14 million waste sorting facility will help the island process larger volumes of recycling in a bid to improve Malta’s poor track record on waste management, according to a new tender agreement. The Multi-Material Recovery Facility will be run by State waste management firm WasteServ on land next to an existing bring-in site in Ħal Far. A tender for the construction of the facility was issued last year and the winning bidder, BS Joint Venture, was announced by the government yesterday. “The proposed facility aims to expand the waste types processed locally,” the tendering documentation reads. It adds that the facility will be constructed by the bidder to accept a variety of waste streams that would otherwise be disposed of at the island’s landfill. Recycling has been repeatedly highlighted as a major failing in Malta’s waste management efforts over the years, and the island recycles the smallest quantity of municipal waste in the EU. Last year, the Times of Malta reported how the island’s main landfill was expected to reach full capacity within two years, triggering the government to hold a public consultation on the matter.  What followed was the announcement that a...