On Wednesday 3rd April Wasteserv hosted its fifth edition of the Malta Waste Reduction Awards at the Westin Dragonara Hotel.

During the event the winners of the European Week for Waste Reduction 2018 were announced. This is a Europe-wide initiative which was held between the 17th and 25th of November with over 14,000 actions organised across 30 countries. This was the 10th edition of the EWWR and the 9th in which Malta participated and the theme this time was “Hazardous Waste – Time to Detox”. Locally we had 134 actions organised by 67 different entities in 2018, many of which were centred around the theme of Hazardous waste.

During his opening speech Mr David Borg, Wasteserv’s Chairman pointed out that the actions carried out were innovative and of a very high standard, “It is important that we continue raising more awareness on the impacts of hazardous waste on the environment”.

All these initiatives were assessed on the following criteria: innovation and creativity, methods of communications used, the number of people reached and the long-term impact of the action. The winning entities this year were:

• Public Administration Category -­ Is­-Siġġiewi Local Council
  €1000 grant for an investment of benefit to the environment;
• Associations Category -­ The Arthritis & Rheumatism Association
  €1000 grant for a campaign/initiative of their choice;
• Schools Category ­- St Thomas More College ALP School Paola
  Grant of € 1000 for investment in school resources of benefit to the environment;
• Businesses Category ­- Veco – Vitally Ecologic
  Team building event (value up to €1000) sponsored by Outdoor Living;
• Most Innovative Hazardous Waste Initiative Category ­- 1st Birkirkara Scout Group
  Cash prize of €1000
• Clean Up Category ­- Eden Leisure Group
  Cash prize of €1000

Additionally, a Weekend Break at The Palace Hotel was offered by AX Holdings for a raffle drawn during the event for the participants present.

Moreover Wasteserv would like to congratulate the St Thomas More ALP School Paola who was also nominated as a finalist for the European Awards in the schools category, which will take place in May.

Recognition was also given to the three top ranking localities, both in Malta and Gozo, with regards to their performance in the organic waste collection. The criteria for these awards were: the amount of organic waste collected, the decrease in the amount of mixed waste collected, the total amount for recyclables collected, and the participation rate in the organic waste collections. In Gozo third place was awarded to Ix­Xewkija, second place to Il­Fontana and first place to Ta’ Sannat. In Malta third place went to L­Imġarr, second to Il­Qrendi, and Il­Birgu came first.

The Hon Josè Herrera, Minister for the Environment, Sustainable Development and Climate Change remarked during his address that “The Don’t Waste Waste Campaign which has been running for three years followed by the Sort It Out Campaign have managed to bring a change in behaviour, as manifested in the encouraging participation from the general public gauged by the quantities of organic waste collected so far”.