Beach cleaning

I refer to the caption story regarding litter and syringes at Golden Bay (August 1).

The Ministry for Tourism and Culture would like to state that all beaches around Malta are cleaned on a daily basis including weekends and public holidays by ministry personnel attached to the beach cleaning section.

Cleaning operations are carried out early in the morning to ensure the beaches are clean and tidy before the bathers arrive. Cleaning operations include the removal of seaweed and the emptying of rubbish bins.

In the particular case of Golden Bay, the beach cleaning section, through the collaboration of the Malta Tourism Authority, has, this season, installed 70 new bins that are lined with garbage bags and are replaced with fresh bags on a daily basis.

The photo that appeared in the paper clearly shows that the garbage bag was removed from the bin by an unknown person or persons with the result that the rubbish spilled onto the sand. The photo also shows the mark left by the garbage bin imprinted in the sand, although the bin itself is not visible, meaning it must have been removed.

The ministry would also like to point out that the use of beaches is not limited to the day time because beaches are a popular venue for barbeques that go on till the early hours of the morning.

While every effort is being made by the ministry and the MTA to improve our beach product and keep our beaches free of litter, the ministry and the MTA strongly appeal for the cooperation of the public making use of these beaches to keep litter to the minimum and to dispose of it in the proper manner.