Wasteserv to drastically change course to a circular economy context
Waste management is a matter of great public interest on which from time to time there are various articles both in the press and other domains. An article featured on Friday 3rd April 2020 in the Times of Malta linked the current Coronavirus pandemic to a claimed ‘new level’ of ‘waste management crisis’.
On this matter, Wasteserv, in addition to its already featured comments would like to clarify a few points.
It is fundamental to underline that the wellbeing of its workforce remains a top priority. During these difficult times, although vast amounts of people are within the safety of their homes, hardworking teams are still operating the country’s waste management facilities. In this regard, gratitude is not sufficient, but Wasteserv is duty bound to take all possible measures to safeguard these teams. Although none of the services offered by Wasteserv have yet been interrupted, some additional precautionary changes have been put in place. Measures of social distancing have been implemented and this with the intention to limit worker to worker contact as much as possible. Moreover, as quoted in the article, some work practices have been finetuned to further safeguard the workforce. Workers are obviously also provided with all the required safety equipment. Again, it is confirmed that these measures follow international practices and are also drawing upon discussions at EU level.
Newly appointed CEO Richard Bilocca moved away from the term ‘waste management crisis’ and explained how the vision put forward by the Ministry for the Environment, Climate Change and Planning ‘will drastically change the course, from predominant reliance on landfilling, to a circular economy context where waste is upcycled and turned into a resource; be it the generation of energy, the creation of recycled products, or other high value materials’. Although the situation is not the easiest and still presents substantial challenges, the solutions are already being identified and important announcements will start being made in the coming days.
Moreover, Wasteserv encouraged the public to continue in its waste separation and recycling efforts whilst also encouraging everyone to follow its social media channels where interesting information, including activities for kids are being suggested. These are both good as home-craft activities in these difficult times, and also to continue instil a responsible environmental conscious in the island’s little ones, on which conscious the very ambitious strategy Wasteserv is soon embarking upon will also depend.