Malta registered a 30% increase in waste recycling between 2020 and 2021. 

Last year Malta recycled 15% of the country’s waste, an increase of five percentage points over the previous 12 months. This confirms how Malta is reversing the stagnant trends defining this sector for numerous years. It is even more significant when one considers that the long-term investment in waste management infrastructure is still in its initial phases of implementation. 

This positive trend is expected to be maintained in 2022 and 2023. 

Despite this improvement, a nationwide cultural shift is necessary to reach Malta’s mandatory EU targets. More importantly, this green transition is essential for the general wellbeing of residents in Malta both in terms of health and overall standard of living. 

Past polluting waste management practices are no longer an option and Malta needs to decrease landfilling from the current 85% down to 10% by 2035. Such a significant reduction is very challenging but WasteServ is confident that the country can achieve it with the investments being made, and the combined efforts of the public and the commercial sector. 

It is now confirmed that the aggressive strategy changes and short-term investments implemented by WasteServ have yielded the anticipated positive spikes in performance, and more improvements are expected later this year as a new fully automated €4 million recycling facility enters operation. These short-term improvements will be drastically ameliorated with the €500 million ECOHIVE Project that is currently under construction. 

However, infrastructure alone will not yield the required mandatory targets and the implementation of Malta’s 10-year waste management plan that includes mandatory waste separation for both households and the commercial sector. 

For this reason, WasteServ encourages households and businesses to intensify their commitment to reducing waste to landfill, by actively reducing, reusing and recycling. Separating our waste correctly, choosing items with less packaging and repairing items instead of throwing them away are some of the way of how everyone can contribute to reducing waste.