DM Monitoring
VALLETTA: Malta plans to recycle 85 percent of the plastic bottles it consumed annually, Maltese Minister for the Environment, Climate Change & Planning Aaron Farrugia said on Monday.
He announced that 350 reverse vending machines will be spread across the country over the next 14 months.
Farrugia said the Bottle Collection and Refund Scheme was entering its final phase and will see the development of a new factory where the bottles will be sorted and prepared for recycling.
The facility will see an investment of 15 million euros (17.8 million U.S. dollars), he added.
According to Farrugia, the bottle refund scheme will benefit both the environment and the economy since the company providing the service will employ some 60 people.
“Around 95 percent of the economic value of plastic packaging is lost to the economy every year. This is waste in more than one sense of the word,” he tweeted.
The project has the backing of the European Commission but due to certain regulatory complications and the coronavirus pandemic, the project had been impacted and suffered some delays, local media reported.
