For over fifty years, landfills have consumed prime farmland overlooking Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq, a lasting legacy of the PN’s political neglect and broken promises. As Malta makes steady progress, the PN is attacking the crucial €500 million ECOHIVE investment instead of owning its record, while Magħtab residents continue to wait for a cleaner, safer future.

Malta has failed Magħtab. For over fifty years, landfills have gobbled up thousands of square metres of prime agricultural land overlooking the idyllic Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq coastline.

Remember the promise of green wonderlands, paragliding, open-air theatres, flybars and all the rest? That was a time when the government still treated people like gullible idiots. Fast-forward twenty years and the PN still needs a massive reality check on waste management, a party still ingrained in populist narratives, theatrics and make-believe statements.

The problem is of mammoth proportions, and reversing decades of inaction and hot air is an arduous task.

The main landfill, although shut down since 2004, remains potentially Malta’s largest environmental problem, a wound that, although now brought under control, was left to fester for far too many years. It is mind-boggling how the same party that allowed this problem to grow to epic proportions now has the audacity to call the €500 million investment — intended to definitively reverse Malta’s reliance on landfills — greenwashing. Even worse, they’ve gone as far as to call it lipstick on a pig’s face.

The PN would do well to stop insulting people’s intelligence. First, they promised flying pigs; now, when an administration has finally grabbed the bull by the horns, they attack with full force the very projects that will free Malta from the problems of the past.

In recent years, Malta has made steady progress. Landfilling has decreased from over 90% to around 70%. Total residential black-bag waste generation is down by 30%, and recycling figures are the highest they have ever been.

However, this is still not enough. In fact, the European Commission is using all its powers to continue steering Malta towards better sustainability, including through infringement proceedings.

And the PN, instead of apologising for its horrendous environmental track record in this sector, labels current efforts a failure. It ferociously attacks the projects designed to eliminate landfilling, while at the same time criticising the government for the very infringement procedures related to landfill reliance.

The truth is simple: Malta’s landfilling rate must drop to 10%. The improvement achieved in the past three years represents one of the biggest turnarounds at EU level. But without the ECOHIVE infrastructure, which the PN continues to demonise, there is no way on earth that Malta will meet its targets.

And this is not about meeting targets for their own sake. This is what Malta genuinely needs. The residents around Magħtab deserve a cleaner, safer environment, and Malta’s next generation should not be condemned to live alongside landfills.

ECOHIVE is the answer. The PN should stop dreaming of flying pigs and start getting serious about Malta’s waste management challenges.