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6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 MARCH 2022 OPINION 2 maltatoday EXECUTIVE EDITOR Matthew Vella mvella@mediatoday.com.mt Letters to the Editor, MaltaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 E-mail: dailynews@mediatoday.com.mt Letters must be concise, no pen names accepted, include full name and address maltatoday | SUNDAY • 1 JANUARY 2023 Malta needs to clean its act up… fast Editorial IT might not be the most glamorous topic to discuss, at the start of a New Year: but Malta's waste disposal problem represents a ticking time-bomb, that threat- ens to (literally) bury the entire country under gar- bage, unless something is done about it with urgency. Much of this problem is already visible to the naked eye, with complaints now pouring in from all parts of Malta and Gozo, about the sheer amount of litter accumulating on pavements; sometimes, resulting in obstacles that impede people's mobility (or even en- danger their health and safety). The more urgent part, however, remains largely shielded from public view. With a population that has spiked to over 500,000 in recent years (not counting an additional 2 million tourists annually), Malta now generates an average of 600kg of waste a year, for each inhabitant. Recent statistics show that nearly 90% of all rubbish is sent to landfills, with just eight per cent being recy- cled. Moreover, the latest Environmental Implementa- tion Review (EIR) – issued by the European Commis- sion last September – also found that the percentage of landfilled waste has actually increased, rather than decreased, over the past few years. The island is in fact now ranked sixth among the EU countries that generate the most waste per inhabitant; and in comparison with the EU averages for recycling and landfilling rates, Malta has made very limited progress over the past decade. Worse still, it is an open secret that there is simply not enough treatment capacity in the country to treat all the landfilled waste. It was for this reason that the government had to expand the landfill at Magħtab in 2020; and also, why Malta will still need to invest in an incinerator by 2026 at the earliest. (Otherwise, the country will certainly face a waste emergency of the kind experienced some time ago in Naples, Italy: with basically nowhere to dump black bags left on kerbs by households; and garbage left to pile up on roadsides in every town and village.) But both the Magħtab expansion, and the future in- cinerator, can only be viewed as short-term solutions. Malta's waste disposal problem goes well beyond the amount of garbage generated by changing demograph- ics. As with so many other issues, lack of discipline among the public – and insufficient enforcement by the authorities – are also factors that require attention. Above all, however, the Maltese government needs to draw up more effective policies to address the prob- lem at source. Unfortunately, its recent efforts have not been particularly successful. The BCRS reverse vending machines, for instance, were originally intended to reduce the quantity of plastic waste. The scheme itself proved logistically dif- ficult to use – especially by vulnerable categories, such as the elderly – and in some instances, we now have a situation also where BCRS machines are also becom- ing sites of excess plastic that is not recyclable. To this problem, we must also add the undeniable fact that Malta and Gozo have simply become dirtier, and shabbier, in recent years. As Malta heads into another round of local elections come 2024, a reminder of previous pledges for 'a leap in the quality of cleanliness' – as advanced by the La- bour Party back in 2015 – will certainly be met with mockery, by residents who are often unable to negoti- ate their own public walkways. Garbage and urban debris in some of Malta's most populated towns and seaside localities have al- ready become a regular nuisance in the hot summer months. Earlier in 2022, MaltaToday had reported on the threat posed by unhygienic street furniture to the visually-impaired: with blind people facing obstacles when walking daily through the streets, especially when garbage is left out on pavements, or animal ex- crement is left undisposed. Definitely, there must be more knowledge and awareness about such situations: which might seem trivial to some, but are nonetheless great obstacles – possibly even health and safety hazards – to the elderly, the visually-impaired, parents walking with pushchairs, and small children (among other 'acci- dent-prone' categories). Michael Micallef, who runs the Beyond Light project (in aid of the visually-impaired), said that even guide dogs are sometimes victims of unsafe and unhygienic pedestrian areas. Meanwhile, trash piling up on roadsides and pe- destrian areas over the weekends have become visible problems in tourist areas such as Sliema, St Julian's, as well as northern towns like St Paul's Bay, Bugib- ba and Qawra. Mounds of rubbish around the main thoroughfares not only exasperate residents, for all the obvious (visual and olfactory) reasons: but they also give rise to concerns about vermin infestation. Simply put: the growing waste-disposal problem is already impinging on the country's quality of life – and our infrastructure is already insufficient to meet our present needs – as things stand today (let alone, when Malta's population reaches 700,000 by 2050, as pre- dicted…) Besides: in a country where so many people depend on safe pedestrian management for their daily needs, the sheer number of unsafe walkways, in every town and village, amounts to no less than a dereliction of duty by the State. It is therefore time for the State to rectify this short- coming; and to start cleaning this country's act up, once and for all. 1 January 2013 Burglary motive may be ruled out in fatal Sliema stabbing POLICE appear to have ruled out burglary as the motive behind the death of two men, who appear to have been involved in an altercation early this morning in High Street, Sliema. Duncan Zammit, a 32-year-old father to three-month old twins, was left dead in the in- cident involving Nicholas Gera, 26, also from Sliema, who was also killed. The incident is be- lieved to have taken place in the hall of Zammit's apartment building in Falcon House. Zammit is the husband of Claire Zammit Xuereb, the managing director of The Palace Hotel, in Sliema, and also a chairman of the Institute of Tourism Studies. Zammit is the daughter of construction developer and hotelier Anglu Xuereb. Gera was one of a family of four adopted children from Eastern Europe, MaltaToday is informed. Gera broke into the Zammit's top-floor apart- ment, entering into the terrace from the rooftop, where he came face to face with Zammit's wife before being confronted by Duncan Zammit. A neighbour residing in Block C, where the incident took place, said she was woken up by the sound of banging but originally thought it was a drunk person entering the building. "I heard a lot of loud banging coming from up- stairs but when we tried to leave the apartment a policeman said there was a double murder and to stay inside. I heard the wife screaming up- stairs too," the resident said. Two French tourists staying at The Palace Ho- tel just up the road told MaltaToday they heard screaming early in the morning, coming from the direction of Falcon House. "I heard this woman screaming at around 7am. To me it sounded like she was saying 'aidez-moi' which means 'help me' in French. She was screaming for around 30 minutes," the French woman said. It is quite possible the woman heard scream- ing was saying "Ajjut", 'help me' in Maltese. A woman entering the Falcon House apart- ment building this morning at 11:30am was overheard telling a police officer standing out- side: "We really need to increase the security of this building." ... Quote of the Week "You must not rest till justice is served. Her murder remains a stain on the history of our country." Opposition leader Bernard Grech, 45 years on from the brutal murder of his young cousin, Karin Grech, at the hands of a parcel bomb addressed to her father Edwin MaltaToday 10 years ago