The controversy of Sant' Antnin recycling plant in Marsaskala

Abstract

This research project investigated :from a sociological point of view, the controversy of Sant' Antnin recycling plant in Marsaskala and gave particular attention to the discourses and power relations that were constructed by the establishments, organisations, local groups and movements involved in this controversy. The respective contemporary theoretical perspective that was linked to this thesis is Ulrich Beck's (1992, 1995, 1997, 1999) general thesis that we are moving towards a 'risk society', the concepts of 'reflexive modernisation' and 'sub-politics'. Furthermore, I highlighted and discussed the various ideologies and discourses related to the environment and society that is: sustainable development, which combines the environment and development together so as to increase the awareness on the urgency of making progress toward economic development without depleting the natural resources or harming the environment (UN 1987); the concept of ecological modernisation, where the focus is on the environmental re-adaptation of economic growth and industrial development (Sutton 2004); neo-liberalism, which is a discourse of endless economic growth that welcomes not only privatisation and commodification but also wide scale consumption (Dickens 2004); and the 'NIMBY' (Not In My Back Yard) discourse, which is a universalistic ecological discourse that tends to be employed by campaigners against siting of waste infrastructure (Rootes 2006). These theoretical perspectives, ideologies and discourses were applied to this research project in order to address the research questions and to verify whether they had any correlation with the literature, findings, interviews and secondary sources that were analysed in this thesis. The waste management sector in the EU and in Malta was explored, in particular the EU' s waste legislation, the need for environmental and waste policies and various environmental and waste directives. A qualitative methodology was adopted in this study, where the data was collected by means of in-depth semi-structured elite interviews and secondary data sources for a comparative discourse analysis. A short history and an analysis of data on the controversy of Sant' Antnin waste recycling plant were merged together, having a chronology of facts as well as discourse analysis synthesised in a dialectical way. As a conclusion, the main findings that emerged from this research project on the issue surrounding the Sant' Antnin waste recycling plant were explored. These findings were linked to the ideologies, theories and discourses that were discussed in the Theory Chapter and compared to the literature review in order to see whether there were any similarities or differences with what was found by other authors and what was uncovered. by the present researcher. The main research findings included the fact that the Government, development planners and parastatal agencies lost residents' support, as the way public consultations were carried out put a shadow on the political and technical decision makers. Furthermore, while the Government adopted a technocratic approach through the discourses of ecological modernisation and neo-liberalism, the opponents of the recycling plant used sustainable development and NIMBY discourses. As the Government projected a more scientific discourse, the opponents said that this approach was not democratic. There was also an ideological bias, where the development lobby stood to gain from the decision making processes which suited the interests of the developer which in this case, was the Government itself. The current controversy on the extension of the Delimara power station exemplifies this, as various social actors are lamenting that the Maltese Government is adopting a top-down approach, opting for heavy diesel and offering weak public consultation. The limitations that entailed this research project as well as sociological recommendations were also highlighted.