Maltese MEPs Roberta Metsola and Francis Zammit Dimech took front line positions in the war on plastic on Saturday morning, as they joined volunteers cleaning up Exiles beach in Sliema.
The two MEPs were taking part in a pan-EU plogging initiative led by the EPP grouping they form part of. Volunteers, Nationalist Party officials and local councillors also took part.
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"If we all play a small part, we can make a huge difference," Dr Metsola wrote in a Facebook post urging others to help keep Maltese beaches litter-free.
Plogging – a combination of jogging and picking up litter – has become a popular activity across Europe over the past couple of years, as awareness about the long-term dangers of plastic litter has increased.