Domestic waste collection in Valletta costs more than five times the national average, a new study has found, as authorities point to restaurateurs who leave their rubbish on street corners.
A comparative study of the cost of garbage collection and landfilling across the country, conducted by collection service Green MT, has found that it costs around €18 to collect the average Maltese resident’s black bags every year.
While the figure fluctuated slightly in different areas of the island, the cost exploded to €94 in the capital city.
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Contacted yesterday, mayor Alexiei Dingli said he was well aware of the problem and knew what was behind it.
“Waste collection in Valletta is a complicated matter, and there are a number of issues. But restaurants and catering establishments are without a doubt the main factor,” he said.
Prof. Dingli said Valletta had the highest concentration of catering establishments per square kilometre on the island, with more than a 150 bars, cafes, and restaurants serving patrons along its bustling streets.
We have piles of bags on the corner every morning
Although they are obliged not to leave their waste in black bags on street corners but to take them to specific sites or pay for a separate collection service, many are not doing so.
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“We know there are many restaurants that are abusing the system and leaving their rubbish wherever they feel like,” Prof. Dingli said.
The residents contacted by this newspaper said that they had seen the problem develop in their neighbourhoods.
“I have been living in this street [Old Theatre Street] for four decades, and I never remember seeing this amount of black bags.
“In the past few years, we have seen cafes and restaurants open, and all of a sudden we have piles of bags on the corner every morning,” lifelong Valletta resident Paul Debono said.
Other residents on Merchants’ and St Lucy Streets complained of similar “mountains”. Despite this, Prof. Dingli said the council was relatively powerless against the rising tide of rubbish.
Although catering establishments are not meant to dump their waste on street corners, he is only empowered to call for a green warden – of which Malta has only one – to issue fines.
“You have to catch these people in the act. It’s really not that simple,” he said.
But Prof. Dingli has a solution.
Recently, he raised the issue with Parliamentary Secretary for Valletta 2018 Deo Debattista and drafted recommendations for the introduction of a green enforcement unit to fine restaurants and cafes caught leaving their black bags out on street corners.
This newspaper is informed that other suggestions being considered by the government include giving restaurants distinctly coloured bags. Any catering establishment caught taking out their rubbish in different bags could start facing hefty fines.
What the waste study found
The study, which looked at all 68 local councils’ reported expenditure on domestic collection, found the cost was around €4.7 million every year.
Landfilling these bags cost €3.2 million more. It costs €23 to dump a ton of black bags in a landfill, and the study found that more than 136,000 tons were dumped in 2016.
While Valletta had the highest cost, €94 per resident, the lowest was in Qrendi, where the local council paid just €12 per resident every year.