The government is aiming to introduce changes in the top management of its waste management agency as many of its most seasoned professionals have become disgruntled and are tendering their resignations, The Shift is informed.

Although WasteServ is refusing to state how many of its employees left or resigned in 2022, The Shift is informed that more than half of its architects and engineers have already parted ways with the operation and that several more letters of resignation have been tendered.

Richard Bilocca – a Konrad Mizzi political appointee, first as Water Services Corporation CEO and now at WasteServ – is refusing to reply to The Shift’s questions about the raft of resignations at the agency.

While questions sent to Bilocca have remained unanswered despite various reminders, professionals employed at WasteServ who spoke to The Shift on condition of anonymity described the agency’s current management as being “in total disarray” that it is being led “like a dictatorship”.

The environment is reportedly one in which senior officials expect everyone to toe the line without question although they feel dubious managerial decisions are only making matters worse.

WasteServ CEO Richard Bilocca

The exodus, they say, is also down to many top-level employees being disgruntled over the way they are being treated by Bilocca and his acolytes, with shouting and dressing-downs having become the order of the day.

The Shift is informed that a meeting for WasteServ’s senior professionals was held just a few weeks ago to address the growing sense of disgruntlement within the company.

But, one official present for the meeting recounted to The Shift, “Instead of trying to calm things down and listen to our problems, the CEO started shouting and inviting us to leave the company because he could bring in foreigners with much lower salaries to replace us.”

Asked about these claims and other related mismanagement issues, Bilocca has refused to reply to The Shift.

Sources at the Environment and Energy Ministry confirmed the ministry has been receiving  similar complaints and that changes are being considered.

The mayhem at WasteServ comes at a crucial stage in Malta’s already beleaguered waste management strategy.

After years of failing to reach EU recycling targets, a nationwide domestic waste collection system was introduced earlier this year in another attempt to shore up Malta’s dismal performance in the area, where Malta is lagging behind its EU counterparts by a long stretch.

As such, the resignations being tendered at WasteServ are the last thing needed at this crucial juncture, and The Shift is informed that the government is contemplating taking action.

As one senior government official told The Shift, “The situation at WasteServ is getting complex and we are considering all options.”