Artist Kenneth Zammit Tabona is claiming residents are being "tricked" after two environmental wardens fined him for leaving a refuse bags beside three overflowing skips provided by St Julian's council.

Mr Zammit Tabona walked out of his apartment in St Julian's last Tuesday at around 6 p.m. to deposit his garbage bag in the local council skips just up the road - as he has done for the last few years.

But two of the skips in St Mark's Street were overflowing with rubbish and the other was locked. So he decided to place his bag next to at least 20 other garbage bags left by others.

As he was about to leave, two eagle-eyed wardens dressed in plain clothes sprung out of a parked car and issued a citation to Mr Zammit Tabona for breaching littering laws. Identifying themselves as environmental wardens, they slapped him with a €46 fine.

This scene may be all too familiar to some. Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said last week that 2,529 tickets were issued for littering in 2008, costing offenders a total of €40,716.

But Mr Zammit Tabona, an artist and newspaper columnist, is not taking the fine lying down.

"Frankly, I feel it was a definite set-up - they are tricking people," said Mr Zammit Tabona, who argued with the wardens for 30 minutes.

"If one skip was locked and others full, what else could I do? It's absolutely disgusting; they should be getting people to collect the rubbish, not fining residents."

The law states that a litter receptacle can only be left in a public place for collection during a period 'reasonably approximate' to the time at which refuse collection ordinarily occurs.

However, Mr Zammit Tabona complained that the refuse truck in his neighbourhood passed by in the early morning, at 7 a.m.

A spokesman for St Julian's council said the skips were provided out of courtesy for residents who needed to deposit rubbish after this time, and they are emptied every day except Sundays. Yet when the Sunday Times visited the skips in question last Friday afternoon, they were again overflowing, and bags were strewn on the floor.

The spokesman also claimed that the locked skip could not belong to the council because its skips were not locked, and that there were other skips elsewhere in the village that could be used.

She added that people sometimes threw their rubbish on the floor near the skips without even bothering to check if they were full.

Local councils are grouped into nine joint committees tasked with overseeing law enforcement in their areas. They procure by tender the services of licensed wardens from private companies.

Mr Zammit Tabona is particularly angry about what he perceives as the bossy manner of the wardens and their refusal to listen to his protests.

"I should have just been warned, if anything, and told to take my rubbish back. I was shocked and initially didn't want to give my ID number, so they immediately threatened to call the police," he said.

When asked whether wardens were advised to use discretion with the public depending on the circumstances of the offence, Guard and Warden Service House general manager Patrick Busuttil said they were simply there to enforce the law, not to advise the public.

A legal expert told The Sunday Times that Mr Zammit Tabona may have technically breached the law, but the wardens were "ridiculous" in the circumstances and should have exercised discretion.

"If I were a magistrate faced with this case I would fine the offender a total of one cent, that's all," he said.

The money from fines issued by wardens is divided between the joint committee, warden service and local tribunal concerned, as well as Datatrak IT Services Ltd, which provides the integrated data system to issue the fines.

Mr Zammit Tabona plans to contest the charge. St Julian's council has advised him to submit his complaint in writing.