The Malta Chamber of SMEs acknowledges, and is proud of the success achieved in recycling of municipal waste including WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) as reported by Wasteserv in the local media. Wasteserv has been positively evolving and implementing forward looking changes that have resulted in achieving better waste management results.
WEEE Malta, a subsidiary company of the Chamber of SMEs is a not-for-profit company that handles recycling on behalf of its members, mainly importers of electrical and electronic goods. We are proud to have been a significant part of this success. It has involved investment, diligent work and a lot of effort.
WEEE Malta Ltd issues fees to its members, importers of electrical products, according to the volume of goods they place on the market. When products they place on the market reach their end of life and are discarded, this scheme ensures that funds will be available to facilitate the eventual recycling of the product. All this is based on the polluter pays principle, an principle spearheaded by the European Union. These costs are ultimately passed on to the consumer or end user who is ultimately the polluter.
In 2023 (up to end November), WEEE Malta has shipped 61 containers for recycling in Italy and recycled a total of 5108 tons of WEEE material. All costs were covered by the fees paid by its members. Most of the material we collect is processed and recycled locally by local recycling businesses. There are no local facilities for certain categories such as refrigeration equipment and this material needs to be shipped abroad and treated as hazardous waste as per EU rules, and at a much higher cost.
The company constantly strives to handle the timely recycling of all WEEE material collected in public bring-in sites as well as material collected through the company’s take back schemes operated by its members. To date, the company has been up to date in handling all the volume of material collected by Wasteserv and its own collection occurs within 60 days from collection.
In spite of this success which we are very proud of, still, there are issues that have been pending for years and need to be tackled. We believe that together with Government and the Local Councils, companies who have invested in operating in the waste sector can solve most of these issues and aspire to reach even higher targets.
