John Culatto
THE flushing of wet wipes is ‘a major issue’ in Gibraltar as they often wash up later on local beaches and further afield in Spain.
Carlito Buhagiar, of the companies Wastage Products has been campaigning against the dumping of wet wipes locally and setting up the new waste water treatment plant.
He told a local radio programme that his workers removed 80 tons of wet wipes while cleaning just one of the pumping stations in Gibraltar.
“To put that into perspective, that’s 20 African elephants of wet wipes,” Buhagiar told GBC.
He said that Gibraltar residents ‘need to take some civic pride about what they throw down the toilet’.
The problem is heightened as the Rock does not have a water treatment plant at the moment.
So the wipes either get stuck at the pumping stations or are released out to sea.
Those wipes Wastage Products removes often end up as landfill causing more pollution themselves.
“We need to look at out toilets as an extension of our ecosystem,” Buhagiar told the Gibraltar Today programme.
His other company Eco Waters is now moving ahead with the new wastewater plant near Europa Point.
Buhagiar said its construction could start at the Brewery Crusher ‘hopefully before summer’ and at Little Bay after the bathing season ends.
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- Gibraltar starts tender process for delayed sewage plant destined for Europa Point
