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MT 28 August 2016

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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 28 AUGUST 2016 12 News Local councils clamp down on littering and illegal dumping MARTINA BORG LITTERING and illegal dumping are in no way recent phenomena. However despite the normalisation of some of these eyesores, the prolif- eration of social media and the way it allows for 'citizen journalism', has meant that people throughout the island are becoming increasingly aware and enraged by irregularities and breaches of littering laws, and they are not afraid of being vocal about it. Scroll through any local council Facebook page, and you will at some point come across a post about 'dis- gusting' practices such as dumping bulky waste on street corners, or even leaving garbage bags at bring- in sites at inappropriate times. Such attitudes mean that rubbish bags are often left prey to the claws of stray animals, meaning that ultimately their contents will end up in a re- volting, stewy, stench emitting mess by the end of sweltering summer days…. One such locality is St Paul's Bay, where the surge of inhabitants expe- rienced during the summer months often leaves services overwhelmed. As a result, given that I reside in the area myself, my Facebook feed has been flooded with images of such abuses in recent weeks, and this, I can assure you, is an annual occur- rence. MaltaToday met with St Paul's Bay mayor Graziella Galea, who ex- plained that the issue has persisted for many years, and that although it is palpable throughout the year, it worsened dramatically in the sum- mer months. "When the number of people liv- ing in a particular locality and the different backgrounds they come from increases, the matter becomes more complicated, not to mention the changes in lifestyle and every day practices we have all been through," she said, adding that sadly very few people would now take it upon themselves to sweep in front of their own residence for instance. "The amount of garbage produced in general, is now greater than ever before, with some people not caring about the way or indeed the time that they dispose of it." Reacting to the images posted on social media, which give an impres- sion that certain abuses have shot up in recent years, Galea explained that although they revealed an undoubt- edly bleak reality, the posts also pointed at an increased awareness about the environment, which is at least something to feel glad about. "The continuous abuses by some people have therefore become slightly easier to expose through on- line posts, for instance," she said. Galea explained that abuses of the system were exacerbated by the fact that some of the residents in the area are not permanent, or long-term in- habitants, not to mention the vast number of tourists and foreigners with somewhat different cultural backgrounds. "However, abuse cannot be ex- cused or justified by a lack of aware- ness of the system being adopted in the locality, and people should take it upon themselves to query the rules," she said, adding that a simple example of this lax attitude was the approach to garbage bag collection times. "Garbage collectors operate every day here, including Sundays and public holidays, and it can never be justified that some take out their garbage after the collection is car- ried out, on the pretext that they woke up late or that they are on holi- day," she said, adding that she often has to contact contractors to collect the bags once again in a particular street because of the excessive accu- mulation of the bags later on during the day. "If collection has already been done in one's street then the gar- bage should simply not be taken out, then to be taken out, on time, the following morning," she said, be- traying a deep sense of indignation and disappointment at the indiffer- ence of some. Asked about the measures that had already been taken to deal with the abuses, Galea pointed out that short-term strategies such as addi- tional information campaigns could go a long way to inform inhabitants about collection times and recycling procedures. In addition, the coun- cil has also taken action to reduce dumping in certain areas like bring- in sites, she explained. "Although they were set up for the right reasons, and even used well by some, the council decided to remove skips and bring-in sites located in certain problematic areas, like Triq il-Port Ruman, and Triq J Quinti- nus. These were replaced by parking spaces, and, perhaps ironically, prac- tically no rubbish is being dumped there any more," she explained. Like other local councils, St Paul's Bay also offers varied waste col- lection and cleaning up services, including door to door waste col- lection, door to door recyclables collection and emptying of bring-in sites, free bulky refuse collection, street sweeping and emptying of litter bins, grass cutting from non urban roads, as well as a number of staff engaged with the local council to carry out non-scheduled works, such as the collection of bulky refuse being continuously dumped in the area and the distribution of free bags for recycling. Galea added that in addition to the services offered by the council, the Cleansing Directorate also deploys staff in the touristic areas of the locality. The directorate is only re- sponsible for cleaning operations in artetial, distributor, pedestrian and tourism zones, however, as Galea explained, they can sometimes be called upon for assistance if the situ- ation becomes dire. Tellingly, St Paul's Bay, along with areas like Paceville, Sliema, Marsas- cala, Birzebbugia, Marsaaxlokk and Valletta, are among the areas that generate the most waste on the is- land. Although there is no data for individual localities, the directorate pointed out that some 15,000 tonnes of waste were collected in 2015 in total. Galea proposed that beyond the existing services and campaigns of- fered, additional funds would help local councils to achieve more on the waste management and cleaning front, and for localities like St Paul's Bay, specifically during the summer months. "The San Pawl il-Bahar Local Council, which represents Burmar- rad, Bugibba, Qawra, Xemxija, St Paul's Bay and Wardija among some other sparsely populated areas, of- ficially represents around 22,000 residents, but this figure does not include those who inhabit the local- ity just in the summer months," she said, pointing out that numbers in the summer months are estimated to go as high as 60,000," she said. "Personally I think that the Coun- cil ought to be given more funding to reflect this and to allow it to better fulfill its functions." An even further reaching improve- The Haz-Zebbug local council Facebook page often uploads videos from its CCTV cameras Some 15,000 tonnes of waste were collected in 2015 The scraggly plants (above) are unattractive, made more so by the discarded beer cans. Right: An unwanted mattress left out on the pavement

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