November 25, 2021

THE MINISTRY FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, CLIMATE CHANGE AND PLANNING Target for the recovery of 70% of single-use beverage containers by the end of 2022; private operator to distribute reverse vending machines by next April

As the national regulator of the Beverage Container Refund Scheme (BCRS), the main role of the Circular Economy Malta (CEM) agency is to ensure that the existent regulations governing the scheme are complied with and that stipulated targets are met, thereby safeguarding the environment. The first target of collecting 70% of the single-use containers that were placed on the market during the year 2022 and are registered with the scheme is envisaged to be reached by December of next year.   Works related to the installation of the factory in which the recycling process will take place are planned to

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THE MINISTRY FOR SOCIAL ACCOMMODATION Ħal Mula social housing regeneration project completed

Minister for Social Accommodation Roderick Galdes visited to the social housing blocks of Ħal Mula in Ħaż-Żebbuġ following the completion of a regeneration project – which renovated 14 blocks housing 84 families – through an investment of approximately €527,788.   Minister Roderick Galdes described the existing social housing buildings as, “resources that are there to meet the needs that develop in society, generation after generation. Therefore, it does not make any sense to let them decay. Allowing the social housing buildings to degenerate would be a grave loss to the whole of society.”   This regeneration project is part of

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Volunteers Map Australia’s Great Barrier Reef in Vast Citizen Science Project

  An expedition to find lost shipwrecks on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef begins Friday. The voyage is part of the Great Reef Census, one of the world’s largest marine citizen science projects. Conservationists estimate there are up to 900 shipwrecks on the Great Barrier Reef, but only 150 have been found. Shallow water in some parts of the reef off northeastern Australia and the region’s susceptibility to storms and cyclones have made seafaring perilous. Volunteers discovered three shipwrecks last year while surveying the world’s largest coral system. The expedition, which ends Dec. 1, is returning to Five Reefs and the

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Europe’s Christmas Markets Warily Open as COVID Cases Rise

The holiday tree is towering over the main square in this central German city, the chestnuts and sugared almonds are roasted, and kids are clambering aboard the merry-go-round just like they did before the pandemic. But a surge in coronavirus infections has left an uneasy feeling hanging over Frankfurt’s Christmas market. To savor a mug of mulled wine — a pleasurable rite of winter in pre-pandemic times — masked customers must pass through a one-way entrance to a fenced-off wine hut, stopping at the hand sanitizer station. Elsewhere, security officers check vaccination certificates before letting customers head for the steaming

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