It is not an exaggeration to say that the problem of dirt and litter all over the island is a national disgrace. Successive governments have tried to address it, but they have significantly failed to overcome it in the face of a national culture that is pathologically incapable of understanding that keeping one’s own house impeccably clean does not permit one to dirty and litter everywhere else.

It is a deep-seated cultural problem.

I challenge anybody to walk for more than fifty metres anywhere in the countryside or any town or village without encountering litter, rubbish, grubbiness and ever-intrusive and disfiguring construction development. People have become so used to seeing litter and waste that they are now inured to it.

I make two exceptions to that sweeping statement. The first is Mdina, which retains a remarkably high standard of cleanliness. The second is Malta International Airport which is prepared to devote the resources and supervisory structures to maintain it in a good state.

While we cannot do much about our overcrowded beaches, we can certainly do something about their cleanliness, as well as the appearance and infrastructure of the rest of the country. The shameful dumping of rubbish and litter is a national disease to which no Maltese government has yet found the cure.

Illegal dumping and fly-tipping continue to scar all rural areas of these islands. Litter is to be found in open countryside, some of our prime heritage sites, on the peripheries of our villages and towns and, moreover, in our industrial estates and wherever a building is under construction – which in Malta is nearly everywhere.

How can one change the culture of a nation so that dumping and littering are finally acknowledged as unacceptable?  The only sustainable answer to the problem is long-term behavioural change through the encouragement of good habits. Like smoking and drink-driving, we must make littering socially unacceptable. Better education and more effective enforcement are the key.

There is still a feeling in Malta that the state of our public spaces is the government’s responsibility, not ours. A sustained campaign of public education through the media to counter this misperception aimed at inculcating civic pride and an awareness of safeguarding the environment is needed. Until it is acknowledged that the environment belongs to all, and that safeguarding it is in the interests of everybody, it will not be possible to overcome the littering, dumping and dirt that scar so many parts of Malta.

The message must be conveyed through education in schools to ensure the next generation adopts it as an intrinsic part of its culture and upbringing. It has to be backed up by a constant process of public information – especially through the medium of television – to instil a sense of pride in Malta, to induce people to change bad habits and to keep their country clean.

We must make littering socially unacceptable. Better education and more effective enforcement are the key

2018 is the year when Valletta (and the whole of Malta) becomes Europe’s capital of culture. The judgment of thousands of visitors next year will be deeply influenced by how Malta looks. It will be to no avail if Valletta and the rest of Malta look scruffy. What a legacy it would be if we could make the culture change necessary to keep the country litter-free in 2018.

It must become second nature to put litter in the nearest litter-bin, or to take it home for disposal if bins are not available. The good habits that result from informed education, reinforced by a structure of effective enforcement are vitally important to the long-term culture change Malta needs.

Hand in hand with education goes the other remedy to this national disease: the strict and effective application of the rule of law. Malta will not overcome this endemic cultural malady unless the necessary law and order resources are devoted to it.

The Litter Act passed some years ago, laying down stiff fines for those caught transgressing, has had little tangible effect. The introduction of security cameras at dump sites habitually used by litter louts has not been implemented widely enough to be effective.

The introduction of ‘Green Wardens’ and the determined involvement (if that’s not an oxymoron) of police officers, coupled with strict instructions to them to bring the full force of the law to bear on those breaking it, are essential.

Exemplary fines for those caught flouting the litter law will convey a clear message that littering is anti-social, selfish, uncivilised and intolerable.

Above all – and this is the key – there must be the political will to change national attitudes through the imposition of discipline to deal with this disease if we are not to continue undermining our own quality of life.

Local councils must be given adequate means for ensuring the cleanliness of their areas. They are currently allocated budgets which are simply not sufficient to cover them adequately – a short-sighted economy which leads to the current depressing state of so many areas. Moreover, there are large swathes of the country – such as industrial estates, the crafts village, Valletta bus terminus, Addolorata Cemetery and heritage sites – which do not fall under the relevant local council but under other authorities.

It is often unclear where responsibility for cleanliness begins and ends. Too many areas of the country fall between several stools with nobody being held directly responsible for them. This is a recipe for inaction.

The answer is to devolve all responsibility for keeping Malta clean to where it is best exercised and to provide adequate resources for high standards of cleanliness to be set. This is at the local government level. If regions and local councils were given sufficient manpower and held directly responsible for every part of their geographic areas, the situation could be transformed.

Unless seriously determined steps are taken through a process of educational indoctrination, rigorous enforcement of the law and the allocation of sufficient resources for public cleansing and enforcement at the local government level, the curse of littering will continue to tarnish Malta’s streets, countryside and reputation.

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