Sliema and St Julian’s have a trash problem. But then litter and garbage are everywhere on Malta, long ignored and studiously swept (oh the irony!) under the official carpet. Our streets and countryside are a national disgrace. Successive governments and legislatures have simply not addressed it.

Is it cultural?  Are we as a nation really so aesthetically illiterate? What are the ultimate levels of uglification and poor public hygiene we’re prepared to tolerate?

Facebook posts about the unbearable smell of garbage left to fester outside the doors of blameless citizens and the difficulty of steering a pushchair/wheelchair along inadequate pavements piled with rubbish, abound.

There are genuine people out there who are genuinely concerned. It was your elected mission, Prime Minister, to listen to them – and you were entrusted with the political will to help them.

I’m not prepared to live like this any longer. I’m one of many. Of course it’s easier to bask in the glory of my own manically clean WC and let the rest of the island disappear under a mountain of scrap metal and litter. But I’m fully committed to bringing Malta out of its Third World stupor.

Perhaps I’m setting myself up for a fall,  but I’ve created a Facebook page inviting people to ‘Clean up Sliema and St Julian’s’ because these are on my daily radar. I can assure you I care just as much for Marsascala, Buġibba and Siġġiewi. In fact, I care for all Malta, unconditionally, way beyond politics and other divisive traditions.

Still, density of population and the ‘entertainment’ character of the area make litter a huge problem in Sliema and St Julian’s.

The many visitors – ‘students’ and Maltese alike – possess little or no sense of community: the trashy tourists (a minority, one hopes) and our own indolent chavs seem equally unable to tie a garbage bag, never mind be tasked with taking it out at the appointed time or day. Perhaps landlords have a responsibility somewhere

But garbage bags, random litter and building debris aren’t the only issues. Uneven roads and potholes, cracked and dangerously narrow pavements, neglected and abandoned buildings all possess a shabbiness that attracts litter and kills civic awareness.

The worst of Malta is seen on foot, at close quarters. Motorists are cocooned (often de-sensitised by their ACs and thumping music). There’s little regard for pedestrians who are treated as losers – left to wade through garbage and other detritus. Are clean, fully pedestrianised streets really too much to hope for? How hard can that be?

Few services are more basic than street-cleaning. A comprehensive and modern system is essential in Sliema and St Julian’s

I formally invite politicians to ‘like’ my Facebook page, go through the pictures and comments and walk the streets of Sliema and St Julian’s, preferably on a Tuesday.

The page has already created a community and identified problems. Certain conscientious local council members have responded. I thank Pierre Portelli from here. But it’s high time the complacent torpor of government is named and shamed. Under-funded local councils can’t be scapegoats.

Few services are more basic than street-cleaning. A comprehensive and modern system is essential in Sliema and St Julian’s: power-washing on a daily basis, especially in Paceville and other heavily used streets; monitored street-sweeping round the clock; all food waste, animal excrement disinfected and washed away and litter – including cigarette butts – removed.

In Sliema, where residents are crying out for a daily collection of organic waste, rubbish is collected in the evenings – not ideal, especially in high summer. Those who work can’t be home to take out garbage by 7pm, while it is unrealistic to expect holidaymakers to make it back on time. Theirs is a genuine grievance. It’s therefore obvious: refuse collection has to be in the mornings, preferably well before noon.

But it’s the absence of garbage depots and waste skips, of tough litter laws and rigorous enforcement, which makes an already unsatisfactory situation wholly intolerable. The bottom line is that Sliema looks like a dump all day.

Tuesdays are the worst, although there’s no collection. Garbage, you see, is taken out anyway and left on the streets until the following evening. This goes against common sense and the common decency of public hygiene. Yet the practice is commonplace and enjoys absolute impunity.

It’s high time people caught littering or putting out garbage willy-nilly are heavily fined. I’ve been told ‘green wardens’ are expensive because they need to travel in pairs. I don’t buy that. What’s the difference between one warden and another? A warden should be trained in all areas (parking, traffic and green) and be just as capable of dishing out a dumping fine as a parking fine. If he’s empowered to book you for not wearing a seat-belt (without a witness), then the same should apply to an environmental infringement. And if local funding is inadequate, then the government needs to be practical and pick up the tab.

There’s also an argument for the imposition of a nominal local council tax on overnight visitors to Malta. Considering that the population of Sliema and St Julian’s triples in summer, every tourist and student is a case in point.

There’s even a case for a council tax on permanent residents. Such systems operate elsewhere and create a strong amenity culture. At the very least, the government needs to impose a swingeing tax on abandoned houses, many of which double up as waste sites. These need to be cleaned up right away.

The Prime Minister and Minister for Tourism must understand the urgency. We want a better Malta for everyone – a Malta which transcends party-politics – and not perks and privileges for the select few. The environment has to be completely fixed and looking good before anything like an American University or a Tigné sequel is ever contemplated.

Otherwise this country is just building its economy on sand. If the island is a tip, a few artificially ‘good’ pieces won’t convince the discerning tourist.

We’ll just attract the other kind, who treat Malta like a dump... because it is one.

michelaspiteri@gmail.com

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