Resident fined for dumping rubbish says he was 'tricked'

Denise Vella

Mar 23rd 2009, 14:04

@LGALEA I fully sympathise with people who have no adequate drying facilites Mr Galea, and since you ask I live in a flat , so I too have a problem. The difficulty arises because of the ubiquitous and,in view of the housing surplus, un-necessary penthouses which have robbed us of our right to use the best drying space in the world: the roof. Developers should be forced to provide drying areas, not just build over every inch of space, valuable as it may be.

B. Bartolo

Mar 23rd 2009, 00:30

Although the skips were full and rubbish was lying around, a good example would have been not to continue dumping there. Keeping rubbish at home for an extra day won't harm anyone.

Try living a few metres from skips overflowing with rubbish and you will agree with the wardens for issuing KZT with a citation. Across the road from my house, there is a bring in site, which I truly call a dump site. Most days, especially during the weekend rubbish is left lying around the site, and I amaze myself at the ignorance prevailing in the said matter and others too (What about the people who take their dog out for a pooh near other people's homes?). Our neighbourhood is infested with rats, and there is no hour of the day when one cannot see rats roaming near the site.

I wish the wardens are more present near my abode, maybe people will learn once and for all how to dispose of their rubbish.

John A. Zammit

Mar 22nd 2009, 22:40

I have known Kenneth for almost thirty years and I can assure everyone that he respects both the law and the authorities. This incident shows what a lousy piece of legislation is the Private Guards and Local Wardens Act which has turned law enforcement into a business. Seeing the skips full, the wardens in question undoubtedly thought that that was a golden opportunity for them to book people; so they played cat and mouse in order to reach their quota of fines for that day. In legal terms this is called entrapment. I am sure that Kenneth was not the only one whom they booked.

L..Galea

Mar 22nd 2009, 22:15

Denise Vella
And where would you expect them to dry their clothes Denise?
You appear not to have such a problem.

Joseph Cauchi
You are correct.
That is what the police are obliged to do and only to issue the ticket or whatever if the offender persists in his/her action to break the law. But then the wardens companies wouldn't be happy would they?

Tanja Cilia

Mar 22nd 2009, 21:53

The hinged iron rod or pedal at the bottom of the front of the skips serves to lift the lid so one does not have to touch it before depositing garbage bags. I live in an area where the notice "For Domestic Rubbish Only" is a joke; we regularly have all manner of things (list available on demand) chucked into the skips at the end of the street. So we have to use the lid-lifters every single day. One assumes that in KZT's case, they were hidden by the rubbish bags of those whom the wardens did not nab - or did they?

mario aquilina

Mar 22nd 2009, 19:29

Where I live, my neighbour's throw their rubbish bags down from the third floor, instead of bringing it down.

Philip Galea

Mar 22nd 2009, 18:31

Does Mr.Zammit Tabona expect to be untouchable ? If the skips were full and overflowing, he should have taken his bag back home and put it out in the morning before 7.00.a.m.

Denise Vella

Mar 22nd 2009, 18:03

@Anthony Formosa
The green wardens are OK in principle, but they only prey on easy targets. In some villages individuals stack up rubbish on the street by their home or garages for years, bang in the middle of residential areas. Who hasn't seen piles of old tyres or wooden pallets of some obscure commercial value stored outside buildings in full view of wardens, councillors and general public? Easy enough to issue a fine by the relevant authority, so why doesn't it happen in many cases?
And I don't know if it breaks any laws but has anyone noticed the fast-increasing practice of hanging washing up in balconies, due no doubt to modern apartment living? In view of the high cost of tumble drying has anyone got the guts to clamp down on this growing eyesore?

Eric Soames

Mar 22nd 2009, 17:49

Plenty of blame to go round. KZT, caught with your pants down. Council or whoever is responsible for carrying off the garbage, get your act together.

Joseph Schembri

Mar 22nd 2009, 17:32

Just because someone paints pictures that fetch sack loads of money doesn't make them immune from the rules that govern the rest of us.

Like Mr. Zammit Tabona - the refuse truck in my area passes at 7 am every morning. It is a little too early for us most of the week. So we just store the rubbish in airtight bags in the yard and once or twice a week one of us gets up a little earlier and takes them out at 6.45am.

This is the price we pay for having the benefit of free garbage collection EVERYDAY.

I have also found out that the amount of garbage that we have to take out for the 'everyday' refuse collectors has diminished drastically since we have started separating recyclables for collection late every Tuesday morning. This type of garbage can be stored inside the house with no problems such as smells as it consists of plastic and such other materials.

P Muscat

Mar 22nd 2009, 17:25

Had I been Mr Zammit Tabona I would have accepted my mistake, apologised, paid the fine and avoid repetition. Certainly I would not have tried to take advantage, expose the Wardens, play the Saint and even worse publicise it.

KZT had so many other option : Take back the garbage and throw it once the skips are emptied, make it early for the next morning's refuse collection, wake up earlier that morning before 7am, keep it in the car and throw it in the next available skip........

In my opinion KZT is guilty. He should be made to pay the fine.

And most of all three cheers to the Warden/s!!

Manuel Mifsud

Mar 22nd 2009, 17:24

In my comment, earlier on, I forgot to ask Mr Zammit Tabona if he would have left the bag on the ground if the skips were in front of his residence or whether he would have protested against the mess caused by people who leave their bags on the ground. It's one thing complaining against something which is wrong, it's another thing breaking the law!

Franco Xuereb

Mar 22nd 2009, 15:57

Most of the citizens complain when it comes to traffic or green wardens.

I must emphasize the fact that the Law is there to be obeyed by all fellow citizens and thus I personally don't have any problems what so ever with the wardens, as I do my outmost to obey the law.

If I may give an advice to the green wardens, please come and visit the Swatar -B 'kara area near the HSBC call centre, and see the mass the staff makes in the surrounding neighboring area. As I’m sure the pen the warden will be using will run out of ink.
We have been complaining to our local council since the above mention opened its doors, but still we’re in a Status Quo.

Anthony Formosa

Mar 22nd 2009, 14:32

@ Adrian Cardona;

I was referring to the mess left behind in ta Qali on Thursday (Public Holiday) and not on the KZT case. Bah!! However instead of trying to defend KZT from littering the place, which everyone knows that it will end up scattered by stray animals, you should praise the green wardens for doing their job. I see two skips with the lid closed, but perhaps Mr KZT preferred to do like the naghag ta Bendu.

Well done green wardens, the fine should be double.

Denise Vella

Mar 22nd 2009, 14:22

Wardens are lying in wait to fine law-abiding, environmentally-minded citizens, hence they watch the easy public skips, which in some places (some skips in Gozo) are even on camera. Moral: Why risk it? Dump anywhere convenient but don't even think of using the warden-infested skips.'Environment' has become a good excuse for tax collection. The aim is revenue-raising dictated by private company suckers rather than enhancement of collective citizen responsibility.

Adrian Cardona

Mar 22nd 2009, 13:09

@ Anthony Formosa
The caption under the photo says Friday. This case happened on Tuesday.
Duh!!

Joseph Cauchi

Mar 22nd 2009, 12:50

If the wardens in this case, who were in a car, were observing the victim who was about to commit a “crime” by depositing his trash bag, didn’t they have the obligation to get out of their car and STOP the victim from committing this “crime”?

Aren’t law-enforcing officers duty bound to PREVENT crime?

Does not their inaction in prevention of this “crime” constitute a case of being “accomplice to the crime”?

../..

John Borg

Mar 22nd 2009, 12:48

What is illegal is illegal full stop. We should be thanking the Wardens for stopping Mr Zammit Tabone from littering any more! Mr Zammit Tabone had a 'sustainable alternative'.....go back home and come again when the skips are empty.

Matthew Borg Cardona

Mar 22nd 2009, 12:19

Good thinking "Green Wardens"! If I were a warden and I needed to reach a quota or needed to look good with my superiors then I would definitely find an easy way or meeting by objectives. I'd just wait in a car near a skip that is full! Isn't that brilliant thinking?

Too much effort is required to catch people that are throwing rubbish out of car windows, not cleaning up after their dogs or dumping in the countryside. Waiting near a full skip is so much easier.

D Attard

Mar 22nd 2009, 12:19

Before criticizing others the Council and Green Wardens should take another good look at the picture. They will notice all sorts of rubbish which obviously has been lying there for days ,if not weeks,such as the old doors.panels and cardboard. Maybe they should get their own house in order first before lording it over everybody else.Go fine yourselves.

Manuel Mifsud

Mar 22nd 2009, 11:33

In the first place Mr. Zammit Tabona should have protested against the horrible state these skips were left in. I could never excuse anyone, let alone Mr. Zammit Tabone, who I highly respect as an opinion maker, who would contribute to the mess created around such skips by leaving his bag on the ground!

Paul Barrett

Mar 22nd 2009, 11:28

I am totally amazed that more fines are not issued in respect of this on-going attitude to just dumping rubbish beside a skip.
Viewed from my residence I can see both a skip and sorting skips. Often the main skip is full of empty boxes and unsorted rubbish; with other boxes and rubbish bags scattered around the skip - people are just too lazy to sort out their glass, tins, plastic and tear up their boxes into the correct skips.
Additionally, there are many occasions when rubbish is just dumped beside an EMPTY skip because either they are just too lazy to check or parents have sent a child too small to be able to open the skip. Once one bag or box is on the ground, others are too lazy to check if the skip is full or empty and just dump their rubbish with the one on the ground.
If the skips are genuinely full, in our area, (Naxxar) one quick call to the local Council and the skips are emptied fairly quickly.
The daily collection of rubbish is a fantastic service to the community which is very much under appreciated and so often shamefully abused.

Joseph Cauchi

Mar 22nd 2009, 11:08

Isn’t the Local Council duty bound to provide adequate service to its citizens?

The photo above indicates the opposite!

The wardens were directing their actions to the wrong person. They should have booked the L.C. for not adhering to its obligations by providing adequate service to the resident.

Local Councils are there to milk as much as possible its innocent residents. Full Stop!

After all, the Resident is KING, and not the other way round!

But, alas NOT in Malta!

../..

v.pulis

Mar 22nd 2009, 10:41

Of all people! Kenneth like all true artists would not even think of littering anywhere.

The local council's spokesman also claimed that the locked skip could not belong to the council because its skips were not locked,
So who does it belong to?! another Maltese cock up after the illegal traffic signs?

She added that people sometimes threw their rubbish on the floor near the skips without even bothering to check if they were full.
The skips were quite full as evidenced by the picture and even so she shouldn't generalise.

When asked whether wardens were advised to use discretion with the public depending on the circumstances of the offence, Guard and Warden Service House general manager Patrick Busuttil said they were simply there TO ENFORCE THE LAW NOT TO ADVISE THE PUBLIC" There you have it! the sole purpose of the wardens is to collect monet not to educate but we didn't need this comment did we? we all know what is the real purpose of the warden service .

M.Caruana

Mar 22nd 2009, 10:39

Come on Mr. Zammit Tabona. You write in your colums against people doing this and doing that. And now you were caught red handed and you complain for be ing fined ? You should have bowed you head, given your particulars, said mea culpa and paid up rather than stirring up this "I've been framed! or Tricked! or whatever!"

La legge e uguale per tutti...jew celebrities (or yearning to be so) are not in the same league.
I have never in my life deposited any trash amongst other bags of trash near overflowing skips. Thie even when green wardens were not out and about protecting our environment from litter louts like you. I have always taken my trash back to the next litter box, sometimes making me walk a good 30 mins ! So what it's good for the environment, its good for the body and it is certainly good for thy neighbour.
I am appaled by your reaction Mr. Zammit Tabona and you certainly will be viewed under a very different light from the The Times readers for taking this lousy stand.

P Attard

Mar 22nd 2009, 10:28

Surprise, surprise - somebody does not know that s/he should not dump rubbish outside the skip! A mature artist, an opinion maker and a columnist. Just look at the mess around the picture. And he even intends to challenge the wardens for tricking him.

Emmanuel Ebejer

Mar 22nd 2009, 10:15

All we hear is 'local wardens fining here and local wardens fining there'. Is that all they are good for? These wardens seemed to have a lot of time on their hands to be on a stakeout watching over skips. I honestly think local wardens should be abolished.

Anthony Formosa

Mar 22nd 2009, 10:03

I see two more skips perhaps empty, Mr K.Z Tabone is not above the law, he should have opened the other skip and placed hid garbage bag on top like the first skip on the left. Well done wardens for such an example, green wardens should also pay a visit in ta Qali where there was a total mess after Thursdays public holiday. They should also visit places like Bahrija / Mizieb/ Dingli on Sundays afternoon, because we hunters are fed up cleaning after everyone.

And when Summer comes monitor also the beaches.