Vandals' weekend strike at beach-cleaning campaign

As a campaign to tidy up beaches is under way, plastic wheelie bins in Għadira Bay were damaged and charcoal bins stolen over the weekend.

Resources Minister George Pullicino deplored these acts as he highlighted the government's efforts to replace the rusting steel drums littering beaches with 1,200 wheelie-bins.

The ultimate idea is to have a waste separation system on beaches and at each point there will be two bins: a grey one for recyclable materials such as paper, plastic and aluminium and a green one for other waste.

The beaches will be equipped with charcoal bins where leftover barbecue material can be disposed of to ensure it is not dumped in the plastic bins and melt them.

Standing in front of Għadira Bay, Mellieħa, Mr Pullicino outlined efforts to improve beaches, among them the installation of 140 new ladders around the coast.

Malta's beaches and swimming spots recently placed among the best in Europe in terms of cleanliness and hygiene standards.

The EU Bathing Water report showed swimming water in Malta was of a high quality as the country scored a compliance rate of 98.9 per cent, which surpassed the EU average of 96 per cent.

Despite these positive results more efforts had to be made to keep beaches clean. Mr Pullicino explained improvements were being made so that all beaches would be cleaned more regularly.

Until last summer, beaches were divided into two classes for cleaning purposes: blue flag beaches that included the sandy beach in Qawra, St George's Bay and Għadira Bay were cleaned regularly between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. while other beaches were cleaned once daily.

This summer, beaches are divided into three classes. Class A beaches include the three blue flags beaches as well as Pretty Bay in Birżebbuġa and Golden Bay. Public cleaners will be clearing the beaches and bins between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. Cleaners have been provided with a uniform, complete with sun hat, and sun block and their presence is expected to act as a deterrent to litterers.

Class B beaches include smaller popular bays such as Ġnejna, Armier and Mistra. These beaches and bins will be cleaned twice daily while other beaches will be cleaned once daily, Mr Pullicino explained.

He called on bathers to respect beaches and not to litter. After all, the most a person had to walk to get to a bin was about 15 meters, he said. He also called on local councils to utilise the warden system in order to ensure beaches in their localities were kept clean.