Lm1,200 spent daily to clear illegal waste

A staggering Lm1,200 is being spent every day to clear up illegal dumping, as statistics released by the Resources and Infrastructure Ministry yesterday confirmed the scourge of a "nation-wide disease".

The government's Cleansing Services Department is stretched to the limit trying to keep up with the volumes of rubbish being dumped outdoors. It cleared over 1,000 tonnes of litter last month.

In the first four months of this year 4,725 tonnes of illegal rubbish were collected by the department, which falls under the Resources and Infrastructure Ministry.

"Bearing in mind that between January and April, Lm141,750 have been spent to collect illegal dumping, we have to appeal for much more collaboration from the public," a ministry spokesman told The Times with a tone of frustration.

Most of the rubbish was collected from the peripheries of villages and especially industrial estates. Two of the most littered places were Rinella, in Kalkara, and the Corradino industrial estate, close to Paola.

The spokesman said that entire bathroom suites and bedrooms were found littering streets, fields and even bastions. One of the most shocking incidents took place on April 6, when somebody had the tenacity to dump a mattress alongside Portes des Bombes, on the same day that an item appeared in The Times highlighting the rampant dumping.

"Maybe dumping in the streets doesn't shock people the way the oil attack on Portes des Bombes does. But in reality, such littering is just another form of vandalism," the spokesman said.

The introduction of freephone 8007 6608 has resulted in about a dozen calls every day - a drop in the ocean considering the extent of the rubbish.

The telephone number may be used to report illegally dumped material or bulky waste, accumulated curb-side waste, damage in public conveniences, carcasses on main roads and any waste in public areas.