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9 EDITORIAL BusinessToday is published every Thursday. The newspaper is a MediaToday publication and is distributed to all leading stationers, business and financial institutions and banks. MANAGING EDITOR: SAVIOUR BALZAN EDITOR: PAUL COCKS BusinessToday, MediaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN9016, Malta Newsroom email: bt@mediatoday.com.mt Advertising: afarrugia@mediatoday.com.mt Telephone: 00356 21 382741 31.8.2023 T he increased frequency for the collec- tion of organic waste and the reduc- tion of black bag collection is a power- ful incentive for people to act responsibly. Separating once waste is after all the right thing to do, especially in view of the environmental challenges Malta and the entire world are facing. It is also some- thing which citizens in most EU countries have been doing for decades. Grumbling about having to keep organic waste in the kitchen bin for a couple of days smacks of complete absence of civic responsibility. Unfortunately, Malta has a long way to go to reach EU targets and far too much waste ends up landfilled instead of being recycled and reused. In the EU Malta is one of the countries that generates the most mixed waste. 20% of black bag waste from residences consists of organic waste that can be easily been separated. In the commercial sector the situation is even worse, with 30% of black bag waste consisting of organic material. In short Malta has lost too much time in procrastination, mostly thanks to the fear of different governments to irk con- stituents by addressing the problem head on. Malta has missed the bus in the 1990s when the efforts made by Stanley Zammit to instil a culture of waste responsibility in his role as parliamentary secretary for the environment were not followed up by his successors. This meant that Malta continued land- filling waste, making the introduction of incineration inevitable. Unfortunately, the government must now push through a massive culture change in the shortest possible timeframe amidst an explosion of population numbers. But the success of any waste collection system depends not just on civic pride and a sense of corporate and personal respon- sibility but also on an efficient and stream- lined collection system boosted by a ro- bust and effective enforcement system. In this sense we should start treating Malta like a medium sized European city with a robust and adequately funded sys- tem responsible for nation-wide collec- tion and a parallel system of enforcement. This needs the right balance between subsidiarity and centralisation. It is also pretty obvious that localities which experience a sudden influx of tour- ists, or are witnessing a constant turnover of people living in rented accommodation, should have additional waste collection rounds. Moreover, local councils are an important peg in ensuring public com- pliance not just through coercion but by listening to public concerns. At the same time, it makes little sense to have different collection times which tend to be confusing for an increasingly mobile population. While some localities require extra col- lection rounds, the basic collection times should be uniform and should correspond to the needs of a modern society. Moreover, it is high time that the com- mercial sector is empowered to take re- sponsibility for its own waste. It does not make sense for commercial establishments to take a free ride on the domestic collec- tion system which is already over-bur- dened by an increase in population. In this context enforcement should serve as a deterrent for those putting out the wrong waste bag on the pavement, or mis- use the bring-in sites. In short, the only way to address abuse is by issuing warnings followed by stringent fines. As a starter, all bring-in sites should have CCTV cameras, and secondly the prom- ised enforcement to ensure people are separating waste correctly and putting out the correct bag on the right day should kick off. One common sense solution would be that of replacing the black bag with a transparent one, in a way that deters peo- ple from using this bag to throw organic material or plastic. Waste collection: still a long way to go

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