Crackdown on littering to continue

Resources Minister George Pullicino and Parliamentary Secretary Chris Said said today that a crackdown on littering which was launched a few weeks ago was having the desired results.

Dr Said told a press conference that policemen, wardens and MEPA authorised officers, some of them in plain clothes, were fining all those caught littering. While the government believed that education should serve to prevent littering, enforcement action was also an effective deterrent, he said.

Dr Said said officials had also removed posters from electricity poles and trees and 1,000 rusting oil drums from the countryside.

Mr Pullicino said that so far this year, ministry staff had collected 9,000 tons of waste from the roads along with 5,000 tons of bulky refuse dumped illegally.

He said that publicity agents and NGOs had been warned not to stick posters to street lighting without authorization. Some 6,000 posters were removed in the past eight months.