Overflowing bin highlights marina's waste problem

The Malta Maritime Authority regularly appeals against the dumping of used oil in the sea but owners of boats berthed at the Msida marina's pier G have had no option in recent weeks because a waste tank remained unemptied.

Open containers and used oil filters, half-drowned in oil spilled around the tank, were simply dumped in the overflowing tank. Black oil trickling into the sea completed the picture.

Asked for an explanation, the MMA said it constantly cleaned the tanks and the area around the tanks from oil spills and from loads of rubbish "capriciously dumped by people".

MMA public relations officer Charles Axisa said the last time the authority emptied the tanks was on July 12. "However, this tank could not be emptied as the contractor engaged by the authority to do the job could not get anywhere close to it with a long vehicle due to the cars parked in the area," Mr Axisa said.

The MMA has now asked the contractor to empty the tank even though he will have to park his truck on the main road.

The authority said that though it constantly monitors its 14 waste oil tanks and collects oil regularly, "these tanks are constantly being misused by a number of yacht owners, the general public and vehicle mechanics in the vicinity who dump their used oil in them," he said, explaining that though the MMA offered the service to paying boat owners free of charge the public could not dump oil in the tanks.

"Moreover, some boat owners are not interested in keeping the place tidy and simply dump their rubbish next to the gate when there is a skip just a few metres away," the MMA said.

Mr Axisa said MMA personnel continually removed water heaters and large boat batteries from the vicinity.

"Only recently have we managed to remove an abandoned car from the parking space at Msida Marina. It's a constant struggle."

Though the MMA had recently installed a bring-in site with separate containers for glass, paper, metal and plastic, some skips were set on fire. "Recently, some youths were caught pushing a skip into the sea," the MMA said.

"The marinas are full of rubbish - from take-away packaging to empty bottles dumped in the waste oil tanks - thrown there by passers-by. The Ta' Xbiex breakwater is a prime example of this. The skips provided by the MMA are the only waste facilities in an area that lacks proper bins," Mr Axisa said.