Litter everywhere as cleaners fail to cope

Over the past few days, readers of The Times from all over Malta have repeatedly reported rubbish being dumped in valleys, along main roads, in tourist areas, along promenades, on beaches and even in empty plots in residential areas.

The Public Cleansing Department in the Ministry for Resources and Infrastructure, which with the local councils is responsible for collecting rubbish, claims its efforts to maintain a clean urban environment is proving futile as newly spruced up places are littered again in a matter of days.

One spot in Kalkara appears not to have been cleaned for ages. In reality, it was cleared by government workers just 10 days ago!

The ministry said the department had cleaned the area even though this was, strictly speaking, the prerogative of the local council. But the Kalkara example was just one of many, a ministry spokesman said.

He said workers collected a pick-up truck full of rubbish from the centre strips in the Valletta, Blata l-Bajda and Marsa areas every day.

Workers who busily cleaned out waterways and valleys were repeatedly being faced with illegally dumped rubbish, especially in spots just cleared, the spokesman pointed out.

It is understood that the main culprits are small contractors who dump unwanted building waste at the edge of villages or in industrial estates, instead of going through the proper channels to dispose of inert waste.

Recently, for instance, the Public Cleansing Department collected a whole bedroom suite from December 13 Road in Marsa. The same spot had been used a few days earlier to dispose of unusable planks of wood and pieces of furniture.

A St Paul's Bay resident said people were stopping to dump mattresses, white goods and all kinds of rubbish in a plot next to her house.

She said she even had to remove bottles of chemicals and old batteries dumped at the side of the road for fear that her children would be injured.

She said that when she called the Public Cleansing Unit to report the waste she had been directed to the local council, but nothing had been done about it so far.