Editorial

There is one thing which, more than anything else, leaves many tourists visiting Malta and Gozo with a sour taste. No, it's not the ripping-off they experience at the hands of some taxi drivers or the relatively high prices they pay in restaurants, nor the surly service in many shops and establishments, not even the bad driving on our roads.

It is, by a long stretch, the abysmal state of public cleanliness: the accumulations of filth and refuse, the littering everywhere, the indiscriminate dumping of the mess left by construction workers in prime tourist sites - in short the seemingly utter lack of pride of most Maltese in their public environment, which ironically contrasts sharply with their obsession with cleanliness at home.

This newspaper and its sister paper, The Times, regularly carry letters from tourists, but also quite a few Maltese readers, complaining at the filth they see everywhere, at the mess left on pavements by dog-owners who take their pets for their daily walk, at the mounds of rubble from construction works which have become permanent features of some tourist areas, on the shocking state of our countryside, the littering of beaches, overflowing rubbish bins.... the list is practically endless.

As one foreign reader remarked, how can Malta, boasting of its new status as a member of the European Union, continue to tolerate third world standards of public hygiene?

The picture is not all bleak, however. Local councils, first established 11 years ago, became responsible for the collection of waste. As with achievements in other areas under their jurisdiction, some local councils have been more successful at this than others.

And now, help is coming from the European Union, in the shape of a €4.6 million grant, to introduce waste separation in households and to develop bring-in sites. Besides, the Infrastructure and Resources Ministry last week announced it would be getting tough with those who dumped refuse illegally, among other things by enforcing the penalties provided for by law (!)

And there is the rub. Nothing short of draconian measures must be taken against those littering the countryside and public spaces. But these would be meaningless unless they are enforced, and seen to be enforced.

In this respect, one logical course of action - apart from a massive and ongoing educational campaign, which would not only promote clean practices but also sternly warn prospective offenders of the penalties awaiting them - would be to further empower local councils to act against indiscriminate dumping and littering.

Local wardens should be on the lookout not so much for real or imaginary infringements of parking regulations, although this too is important, but for the far more widespread abuse in dumping of bulky refuse, littering, and polluting the environment. And the jurisdiction of local councils, as far as waste collection and enforcement of the Litter Act is concerned, should extend to surrounding areas, main thoroughfares and other parts of their localities which fall under the responsibility of the central government. It's no use keeping a locality's streets spick and span if the approaches to that locality are filthy.

Wider and more thorough enforcement should be complemented with the provision of a far larger number of rubbish bins and receptacles than are found at present. One example: the stretch of road between the Floriana car park and City Gate, going past a five-star hotel, is totally littered with plastic bottles, straws, empty cigarette boxes, cartons and other waste. This is disgraceful, but on the other hand, there is not a single litter-bin in sight!

All these arguments also apply to our few sandy beaches, much frequented by tourists, who are also often disgusted by what they see: at weekends, especially, a "film" of empty plastic bottles, ice-cream wrappers, newspapers, cigarette butts, empty packets, and food left-overs, punctuated by refuse bins full to overflowing, covers the sandy expanse.

Which brings us to another point. Why are not public cleaners employed also at weekends? It is ridiculous, to say the least, not to have waste collection and emptying of bins and removal of litter on the two days of the week, Saturday and Sunday, when tourist localities - including beaches - are most frequented.

Obviously this costs money in overtime or in the employment of additional workers, but if ever there was money well spent this is it. Only thorough, ongoing action can rid these islands of the bad name they have acquired for themselves as a "dirty" destination. Surely, our reassertion as a 'clean' destination would have been worth that investment.