Residents of St Paul’s Bay have described the locality as the “new Maghtab”, describing it as being in a “shabby, filthy and pathetic state.”

Residents have taken to social media to complain about the daily littering. Pictures posted yesterday (above) showed J Quintinus Street littered with numerous black bags pilling on top of each other, boxes of plastic and glass bottles, and even an abandoned mattress.

The mess was cleared by local council workers within a few hours (photo below)

A locality of over 60,000 residents and many do not obey

After seeing the number of complaints, this newsroom investigated the issue and contacted the St Paul’s Bay Local Council. A representative from the Local Council said that they are fully aware of the situation and it is one which the Council are working on.

“This locality is meant to have 26,000 residents, but in reality there are over 60,000 residents, and many simply do not obey the regulations,” the representative said.  

The Local Council is aware that there are a large number of apartments which are rented out as short-lets and therefore the actual owners of the property have no interest in taking responsibility.

The representative said the Council is doing its utmost to ensure a clean environment. Shortly after the phone call, the Council had cleaned one of the streets which was littered with garbage and a mattress, adding that such work was carried out on a daily basis.

The council also said that law enforcement regarding littering is not strong enough, and questioned when the fining scheme would begin. The Council has contacted Waste Serv regarding the issue.

People giving WasteServ a bad reputation when it is the ERA who is failing to enforce regulations

“People assume that WasteServ collects waste, but we work on receiving waste and not collecting it,” said Tonio Montebello, CEO of WasteServ.

When questioned about the current issues St Paul’s Bay has been facing regarding waste collection, Montebello told this newsroom that it is the responsibility of the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) to enforce regulations and which controls the frequency of waste collection.

Comments from ERA still pending

By the time of print the newsroom had not received any answers from ERA regarding the necessary enforcement needed at St Paul’s Bay and the starting date of the fining system for taking out the wrong garbage bag.