More Maltese are becoming increasingly conscious of the substantial contribution GreenPak Cooperative Society, which operates the GreenPak authorised scheme, is making in the collection of packaging waste in Malta. Apart from increasing the number of Local Councils it services from 19 councils in 2009 to 41 four years later, GreenPak has experienced a significant increase in its membership base with over 1,300 member companies contributing financially in the collection and recycling of packaging waste.

Between 2010 and 2014, GreenPak saved enough energy to power 1,000 offices for one year. Other achievements include:

Recycled plastic enough to make 7.85 million fleece jackets
Recycled cardboard enough to save 441,000 trees
Recycled 14 million glass bottles
Recycled metal enough to make 100,000 bicycles
Recycled Plastic enough to make 1.57 million carpets
Saved 400,000m³ of space at Għallis Landfill

Whilst GreenPak’s recycling efforts are yielding ever better results, the latest figures published by the EC’s statistics office Eurostat show that Malta is still amongst the lowest performing EU member states, with almost 44.7 per cent of packaging waste recovered or recycled. This contrasts sharply when compared with the success rate of other countries such as Belgium, which recovered or recycled almost 96.9 per cent of its packaging waste, Austria (at 93.7 per cent) and Germany (at 97.4 per cent).

GreenPak CEO Ing Mario Schembri says: “The initiatives run by GreenPak Coop have led Malta to increase recycling without the need of taxing consumers. There is still much more to be done to bring Malta at par with other countries. Fragmentation in such a small market is the next barrier that needs to be overcome if Malta is to achieve the same levels of recycling as other countries which are doing better than we are in this sector.”

As a founding member of the European Extended Producer Responsibility Alliance (EXPRA), a not-for-profit international organisation promoting the concept that it is private industry itself that should take up recycling, GreenPak is on the forefront advocating the concept of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) within the Maltese business community as the way forward to a Circular Economy as proposed by the EU.

GreenPak is also socially committed through the financing of various initiatives including continuous education and awareness about recycling at locality level, the distribution of free green recycling bags to encourage further recycling, and Nirriċikla għall-Istrina campaign which has been extended beyond the participation of schools. For the fifth year, in collaboration with the Malta Community Chest Fund, companies and organisations are participating in this noble cause to instil in young children the values of re-use and recycling.

GreenPak is a scheme authorised and approved by MEPA for the collection of packaging waste in Malta. More information about the recycling scheme can be obtained by phoning 2166 1081, visiting Greenpak website http://www.greenpak.com.mt  or email: mail to:info@greenpak.com.mt