A company that will run Malta’s bottle recycling scheme has offered to waive a fee that small-scale operators say will bankrupt them, provided the government offers them financial assistance. In a letter to Environment Minister Aaron Farrugia, BCRS Ltd. said that it wanted the government to “provide a financial contribution” to its capital expenditures and to waive a €230,000 annual licencing fee for the first year of operation. BCRS was responding to a letter sent to the minister by a number of small-scale beverage importers and producers last week, in which they warned that the €100-per-beverage-type fee would financially cripple them. Craft importers and producers say the fee is unfair, as it applies equally to a beverage sold in limited quantities as to ones sold by the truckload, and could run into tens of thousands of euros for craft beer importers. 350 such bottle recycling machines will be installed as part of the scheme. The beverage recycling scheme, which is scheduled to become operational in April, will see 10c added to the cost of applicable beverages, with consumers able to recoup that charge by depositing empty containers at vending machines at key...