As from Wednesday taking out the domestic waste bag too early in the day might result in a fine, but in some localities residents whose working hours overlap with the four-hour collection time window, are facing a Hobson’s choice.
One such example is Lija, where the council set the collection time at 1.30pm.
In this case, employees working normal office hours will have to choose between missing work to take out the waste bags after 9.30am, or risk a fine. This sanction is in line with recent regulations issued by the Environment Ministry, which state that waste cannot be taken out earlier than four hours before collection time.
The changes were enacted in preparation for the organic waste collection scheme, being launched on Wednesday.
Under this system, households must dispose of food remains, flowers and leaves in white rubbish bags which will be collected on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Concerns on the collection schedule came to the fore a few days ago when a legal notice containing collection times across all councils in Malta and Gozo was published by the ministry.
However, the latter is insisting that it would not be amending the roster without a council’s consent. The schedule supercedes a previous one published last month, in which most localities had been left out of the organic waste scheme.
While in the overwhelming majority of cases collection will take place by 9am, a number of councils have opted for later times.
In Dingli, waste will be collected from 6pm onwards.
Times of Malta asked what arrangements would be in place to cater for those unable to adhere to the four-hour window due to their working hours.
Dingli mayor Sandro Azzopardi pointed out that the decision was based on the strength of a public consultation process, in which the majority opted for the afternoon. However, he conceded that due to concerns raised by some residents who feared they would not be back home from work in time to take out the bag, the collection schedule was postponed by half an hour, and eventually delayed further to 6.30pm.
As for the Lija council, Times of Malta was told that they would be replying once they received feedback from the Environment Resources Authority and State waste management company Wasteserv.
No further reply was received by the time of writing.
Gżira council said that it opted for waste collection at 7pm due to heavy traffic in the morning and road closures. However, a spokesman acknowledged that there could be problems for those working in the evening, and urged affected residents to contact the council in an attempt to find a solution.
Times of Malta also sought the reaction of Valletta mayor Alexiei Dingli, as in the capital mixed waste in black bags will be collected at 3pm on Mondays.
In his reply he noted that the schedule is the same which had been in place prior to the introduction of the organic waste scheme, but if need be the council would be revising it.
On Wednesday, the local councils association said that it was not happy with the way organic waste bin distribution had been handled, saying authorities were guilty of a lack of planning.