A sustainable waste management strategy for Malta : land reclamation

Abstract

The Building Industry Consultative Council (BICC) had set up a workgroup in 2001 with the aim of proposing to Government a way forward towards curtailing the ever-increasing problem of inert waste in Malta. This workgroup (WG) was composed of experts in the environment and allied fields, who focused their advice on the three pillar principles of Reduction, Reclaim, and Recycle. This concept was also the basis for the setting up of a transitional Waste Management Unit within the Ministry for Resources & the Infrastructure, which later evolved into WasteServ Malta Ltd., set up in November 2002, today a private enterprise managing waste o.b.o. the Government of Malta. This paper reflects the position of the BICC expressed though its workgroup based on the above three pillars (3R’s) as its end goals. It focuses more specifically on construction and demolition (C&D) waste attempting to identify landfill and marine based sites for the disposal of clean inert material. The report portrays bi-polar opinions on the issue of land reclamation through marine depositing of inert material. Its ultimate aim is to achieve maximum restoration of land and utilisation of natural resource in line with sustainable development.