The mayor of Swieqi is right to highlight the horrors of those fly-tippers who make life a misery for everyone. A health hazard? Most certainly. The solution? That comes in two parts.

The most difficult is to identify and catch the culprits. The easier way forward is to sort out the mess for now, at least.

Now I have this theory that incarceration should be reserved entirely for murderers, domestic abusers, drug dealers and people who blindly maim and possibly kill when driving under the influence of drugs.

They should be incarcerated at Corradino but under care-ful supervision and they should be allowed the chance of redemption: clearing the roads of rubbish.

Non-violent criminals should be granted the opportunity of doing community service as an alternative to jail.

In this way, the people of Swieqi would see the garbage disposal problem swiftly resolved. The same will apply across these islands.

Those caught dumping rubbish should be heavily penalised: 100 hours of community service for a simple infraction; 1,000 for multiple infractions; even more when one is caught doing so time after time in an organised manner.

The will is there. The officers at Corradino are there. The police are there. The magistrates are there and at the ready. The population is there to better report offences - if they believe such reports are acted upon.
Perhaps laws need to be changed. The time is right to do it.