San Ġwann residents claim they are having to act as voluntary green wardens because the local council has failed to control the build-up of rubbish in the town.

But it’s a losing battle: whenever they report dumping the council tells them it cannot take action unless the culprit is caught red-handed, according to one angry resident, Natalino Caruana De Brincat.

“We, the residents of Tal Balal Road, Triq il-Ħgejjeg, Triq G. Preca, Triq A. Matrenza, Triq G. Ganni and Triq G. Grech, demand that the council acts today and not just before the next local council election,” Mr Caruana De Brincat said. He claimed the council had failed to act on complaints about cleanliness and waste collection dating back two years. One of the worst areas for rubbish was Tal-Balal Road, he said, where the waste generated by commercial outlets “is beyond what the council is prepared to take care of”.

On the other hand, Mayor Etienne Bonello Du Puis pointed the finger of blame at the residents themselves, saying many failed to abide by the rubbish collection times.

Black bags of mixed waste in San Ġwann are collected four days a week (Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays) while grey bags of recycled waste are collected on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

“We invest a lot of time, effort and money trying to keep San Ġwann clean come hell or high water but some residents need to learn to exercise restraint outside of collection hours,” he said, adding the council planned to invest in more green wardens and an education campaign this month which would see every household visited and reminded about collection times.

“When we receive complaints about rubbish dumping we send the contractor to investigate as soon as possible. But what we really need is the co-operation of residents so we don’t have the problem in the first place,”he said.

Mr Caruana De Brincat was unconvinced, saying the worst offenders were commercial outlets not residential homes. He also rubbished the council’s efforts at an education campaign, saying a serious campaign was needed, “not child-like cartoons of talking skips and refuse trucks,” referring to a cartoon in the council magazine.