Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1506016
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 20 AUGUST 2023 9 INTERVIEW problem? Rubbish! ered about 'getting my hands dirty'. When there was a prob- lem with the public toilet in the Independence Garden – the cesspit was blocked, and there was sewage everywhere – I had no problem going down on my hands and knees, with my head right next to the floor... Hang on: but the issue here is not whether you yourself are in any way 'bothered', by what you are doing. It's whether you have the RIGHT to actually do it, or not... [Shrugs] Do people have the 'right', to take out their rubbish – sometimes, entire boxes full of garbage bags: including or- ganic waste, which goes on to cause a stink, and attract rats, etc. – and just dump it out on the pavement? Does it 'bother' those people, that their moun- tains of rubbish are now block- ing the pavement for everyone else? And are they 'ashamed', that their names are in those piles of rubbish, anyway? Be- cause that's where I get all those names from, you know. They're taken from all the rubbish that they themselves were not 'ashamed' to dump out on the street, illegally, in the first place. So the way I see it: if those people were not ashamed to litter the pavement, like that... I'm not going to be ashamed of 'naming and shaming' them. Maybe I'm wrong, to think that way; but that's how I see it, my- self. Fair enough. But there is an- other dimension to all this. You yourself stated, earlier, that garbage collection for mixed- waste has been reduced: from three times a week, to only two... Yes: and what I forgot to men- tion was that next year, it will be reduced to only once a week. Can you imagine...? OK: but that also means that some people might not have any real choice, but to take out their rubbish on the wrong day. There are people whose work hours don't permit them to be at home, on the two (or one) days of the week that the garbage truck actually pass- es. So who is really to blame, here? The people, for disre- garding regulations... or the authorities, for not providing a more reliable, functional re- fuse-collection service? Let me answer you this way. We [the Sliema council] were among the first, in this coun- try, to introduce garbage-col- lection in the evening. We did this, because it was impossible to collect in the morning. With all the construction work going on, streets would be blocked by cranes, lifters, trucks, etc. So much so, that – on days re- served for glass collection: i.e., the first and third Friday of the month – we don't issue any per- mits at all, to block streets. In any case: we introduced evening collections, starting at eight o' clock. And we wanted it at eight, so that people who have shops, for example, would have all the necessary time to get back home. But the contractor, at the time, had a problem. When he went to WasteServ to deliver all the garbage, at the end of the shift... he would find the gates shut, because WasteServ closes in the evenings. So we had to, very reluctantly, change the time to seven. Now, we are asking the Re- gional Council, to ask Was- teServ – because that's how it [the chain of command] works – to reschedule evening collec- tion, back to starting at eight o' clock. (Personally, I would prefer eight-thirty). And we've even sent them reminders... Have you got any answer yet? So far, all we've been told is: 'No, because otherwise we'd would have to pay people over- time...' [Pause] Am I to understand, then, that we are 'penny-pinch- ing' [nitqammlu], just to save a little money on overtime? And meanwhile, we're all perfect- ly content to just sit back and watch, while our streets are be- ing turned into giant garbage dumps? Seriously, though: are we only worried about 'pounds, shillings, and pence'?' Is that all we're interested in; and nothing else...? Come on! What is WasteServ doing, to try and help us solve this problem? Meanwhile, there is another issue. One of the reasons I want a quick answer from WasteServ, is that the public needs to be in- formed about any changes to the schedule. We need to organise an educational campaign. We need to print flyers, and infor- mational leaflets. And we need to distribute them; by posting them in letter-boxes, or sticking them up in the common parts of apartment blocks... Now: we'd be happy to do all this, ourselves – in fact, we've done it before: every time the schedule changed – but... I don't want to enter into all that expense, when the decision hasn't actually been taken, yet. But is it really the job of a local council to even do all that, in the first place? My understand- ing is that garbage collection is no longer the responsibility of local councils. Instead, it is now the remit of the Regional Councils... is that correct? Yes: in the sense that, before, it was the local council that is- sued the call for tenders. And it would be won by a contractor, according to all the usual crite- ria: lowest bidder, meeting all the contract conditions, etc. Now, on the other hand – be- cause it is a national scheme – the tenders are issued by the Department of Contracts; and the contractors are chosen on a regional level (in other words, all six regions have their own contractor). Meanwhile, the local councils were not even involved, at tendering-stage, to put forward our complaints, or suggestions, as representatives of the residents. With all due respect, to the residents of other towns: you can't put Sliema in the same basket as a town like, say, 'Hal Safi'. You just can't... One major difference between Sliema and other towns, is the sheer concentration of hotels, restaurants, cafes, shops, etc. Your campaign targets busi- nesses, just as much as res- idents... so how much of an impact do you think Sliema's tourism/retail industry is hav- ing, on the litter problem? Well... I don't want to be the one to 'put everyone in the same basket', myself. The reality is that the number of restaurants and cafes has increased a lot, in recent years... but some of those establishments ARE responsi- ble, you know. I've seen cases myself, where – for instance – a maid who had just cleaned the flats of an entire apartment block, would take all the gar- bage bags outside... but then, load them into a van that was sent by the same agency. So these things do happen; and the same goes for residents, too. OK, maybe I said 'people don't give a damn', a little earlier... but to be fair, there ARE some peo- ple who do. But yes, there's certainly a problem. Let's take restaurants, for instance: in Sliema, we have a bye-law, that you cannot keep any skips outside. But if you go down to the Sliema ferries, right now, you will see that there are skips overflowing with garbage – unsorted, unseparated gar- bage – almost everywhere you look. Where is the 'separation of waste'? Does separation exist, only for households and indi- viduals? What about restau- rants, and shops? Because we can all see, with our own eyes, that there is no waste-separa- tion taking place. And yet, by law, those estab- lishments have to separate their waste... and also, store it inside their own premises. It is sup- posed to be in their contract, that all establishments have to have an internal space where to keep garbage, until collec- tion-time. But everyone ignores it; and everyone just dumps everything outside. This has to stop. If you own a restaurant in Sliema... sorry, but you have to find a way of making space for all the trash you're generating. Reduce the number of your tables. Move things around. Partition your raised platform, and put your skip there. You can do whatever you like; I don't even care what you do, myself. But the one you can't do, is just ignore a legal obligation, to store your garbage inside... like it just doesn't exist, at all.