A new incinerator set to be built in the northern seaside town of Magħtab has raised the ire of residents, many of whom are worried about the plant’s emissions and potential impacts on their health. Some have even dubbed it a “cancer factory”.
A group of residents took to the streets on 10 May, objecting to the project and arguing that the impact assessment failed to take a holistic view of all the planned plants on the site.
The matter has also caught the attention of PN MEP Peter Agius and MP Claudette Buttigieg, who raised several questions about the issue, claiming that the environmental impact assessment (EIA) into the project leaves several unanswered. However, several of these claims do not stand up to scrutiny, often misrepresenting what the EIA actually says about the project.
We trawl through the EIA, authored by environmental consultancy firm AIS Environment, to see what it says about several of these issues.
What is this incinerator?
The thermal treatment facility (TTF) will be an 18,185 square metre plant that will process hazardous waste, including animal carcasses, oils, chemicals, and medical waste, among other things.
It will replace a similar facility currently operating in Marsa, which processes up to 6,000 tonnes of hazardous waste each year.
This facility will be relocated to Magħtab, joining several other plants that form part of the ECOHIVE complex, an area designated for waste management run by parastatal company Wasteserv.
The ECOHIVE complex currently contains a mechanical and biological treatment plant (known as Malta North) but could soon be home to another three incinerators, aside from the TTF. These include the already-approved waste-to-energy plant, and the planned materials recycling complex and organic processing plant.
How much waste will it burn?
In a Facebook post on May 2, Agius said the incinerator is expected to burn 400 tonnes of waste daily.
In an opinion piece published on the Times of Malta days later, Agius clarified that the “over 400 tonnes of black bag waste every single day” refers to two planned incinerators, presumably the TTF and the Waste-to-Energy (WTE) plant.
The EIA reveals that the TTF will be made of two processing lines, each able to process up to 7,000 tonnes of waste each year, for a maximum capacity of 14,000 tonnes in a year.
Taken as a daily average, this works out to roughly 38 tonnes per day, far below the 400 tonnes Agius initially suggested.
The EIA says that the plant will initially only operate a single line, processing no more than 7,000 tonnes each year, or just over 19 tonnes each day. By way of comparison, the current plant in Marsa processes roughly 6,000 tonnes each year, or around 16.5 tonnes per day.
But the second line could eventually be opened “to meet future demand”, with the EIA saying it expects waste to rise to over 10,000 tonnes per year by 2045.
The WTE plant will be significantly busier, able to process anywhere up to 192,000 tonnes of waste each year across its two lines, or roughly a maximum of 526 tonnes a day at full capacity, taking municipal waste that currently goes to Malta’s landfills and converting it to energy.
What will the plant’s emissions be?
The EIA tested air quality across 55 sites (or “receptors”) in the surrounding area, testing for a range of pollutants, which included dust, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, organic carbon, and ammonia.
But the study’s emission monitoring has caused some confusion.
On Monday 12 May, Claudette Buttigieg warned parliament that the assessment failed to factor in PM2.5 particles (particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrometres, making it more likely to enter the bloodstream).
However, this is not correct, with the EIA showing that both PM2.5 readings were taken into account, alongside those of larger PM10 particles.
Others expressed concern about whether the study sufficiently examined the presence of dioxins, a notorious environmental pollutant.
The study’s tests found that dioxin levels will remain low, with the study listing the abatement measures that the plant will implement to control dioxin levels.
The dioxin emissions of incinerators have long been a contentious issue. Industry players say incinerators are made to comply with stringent EU regulations, which restrict dioxin emissions to levels multiple times lower than those emitted by a typical backyard coal barbecue.
But environmental groups argue that EU laws monitoring dioxin emissions are sub-par, with other dioxin-like elements remaining unregulated.
More broadly, the EIA adopts three hypothetical scenarios to calculate the plant’s emissions, ranging from its typical operating conditions (at 60% thermal load), to maximum operating conditions (100% thermal load) and what it describes as “abnormal operating conditions” (when the plant develops a technical fault, for instance).
In all three scenarios, the report finds that emission levels across all pollutants would be minimal, well under limits set by EU air quality directives and “within acceptable thresholds set for different chemical groups”.
And this is also the case when evaluating “the combined impact of emissions from both the TTF and Waste-to-Energy chimney stacks,” with the report finding that “cumulative effects are generally not expected to be significant”.
How far will emissions spread?
Agius warned that the incinerator could spread emissions across a six-kilometre radius, reaching several towns and villages across Malta’s northern coast.
The EIA does indeed identify a six kilometre “area of influence” in its air quality study, finding that particulate matter emitted from the plant could potentially disperse across that radius.
This includes several towns, with Naxxar, Għargħur, Pembroke, Swieqi and San Ġwann identified as the towns most likely to be impacted.
However, the study also finds that emissions in these towns, across the entire six kilometre radius, will be “negligible”, with the exception of one particular spot (a field some 400 metres away from the plant) which will experience “a minor adverse impact” (although emission levels will still remain within legal limits).
Does the EIA ignore the other plants on the site?
One of residents’ greatest concerns is that the impact studies of the multiple plants on the site are being salami-sliced, with the EIA taking this plant’s impacts in isolation and ignoring the cumulative impacts of all other plants across the site.
Residents have called for a cumulative EIA that encompasses all planned projects on the site.
However, while the TTF is undoubtedly the focus of this particular EIA, that is not to say that it disregards the other plants on the site.
AIS, the study’s authors, told Times of Malta that “all existing and proposed facilities operated by Wasteserv Malta are taken into account in the EIA,” including existing landfills, the organic processing and anaerobic digestion plants, the Malta North waste treatment plant, as well as the waste to energy plant and materials recovery facility.
The study also considers Enemalta’s planned interconnector facility, which is expected to be situated on the site, AIS said.
This cumulative assessment ranges from impacts on air quality, to noise, traffic, and neighbouring flora and fauna.
The EIA does not flag any significant concerns across any of these areas, although it does point out that the planned plants will significantly alter the visual landscape.
A series of photo mock-ups in the EIA showing the various plants from different vantage points drive this point home, with the study saying that the “combined effects will result in a notable decline in the overall landscape character”.
The study also flags other impacts, such as the risk posed to birdlife by the increase in artificial light, the loss of some agricultural land, and the damage likely to be suffered by dry-stone huts on the site.
Can the plant be placed elsewhere?
The EIA says it examined a handful of possible locations for the plant, from upgrading the current plant in Marsa, to building it on different parts of the ECOHIVE complex.
It quickly ruled out the Marsa option, saying that upgrading the plant would be less cost-effective than building a new plant, especially given that the Marsa plant is too small to meet future demand.
It also ruled out three other (larger) sites in Magħtab, saying they posed difficulties either because they are on a slope, would extend the ECOHIVE footprint closer to residences, or are already earmarked for another plant.
The EIA does not suggest that any other sites were considered.
Verdict
The thermal treatment facility will initially burn 19 tonnes of toxic waste each day, eventually increasing to 38 tonnes each day when operating at full capacity. The nearby waste-to-energy plant will process far more waste, reaching as much as 526 tonnes of waste each day.
The project’s environmental impact assessment found that emission levels for all expected pollutants, including nanoparticles and dioxins, remain within limits set by EU laws. This is also the case when taking other planned plants into account, including the waste-to-energy plant.
The study does not flag any significant concerns over air quality, noise, and traffic, even when considering the other planned plants. However, it says that the area’s visual landscape will be drastically altered once they are built.
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Residents are objecting to a planned incinerator which will process toxic waste. Image: AIS Environment
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