The 'Saving our Blue' litter campaign has come to an end, having collected around 4,250 kilograms of waste in recent months.

Four concurrent clean-ups were held at Golden Bay, Ghadira Bay, Pretty Bay and St George's Bay which marked the end of the campaign.

Several other clean-ups during the summer were held at Ramla Bay (Gozo), Rinella Bay and Ghajn Tuffieha.

During a visit to the volunteers, Environment Minister Aaron Farrugia explained that this marine litter campaign was launched with the aim of engaging the general public, NGOs and the private sector in the fight against marine plastic litter.

He added that the government is investing in Malta's waste management infrastructure, and that people have already started to implement positive changes to their own lifestyles.

Although the campaign is generating positive results, the time has come to double the success in order to achieve other targets, he said.

The 'Saving our Blue' campaign included an educational campaign with the National Literacy Agency within the Ministry for Education and Employment, in order to raise further understanding of the repercussions of single-use plastic and marine litter amongst the younger generation.

Education Minister Owen Bonnici said that "swe are becoming more aware of the environment around us and how to safeguard its beauty and cleanliness."

"We are raising our children to be more knowledgeable and educated in terms of keeping our country as clean as possible."

Organisations, groups and entities that joined the initiative include: Ambjent Malta, the Environment and Resources Agency, WasteServ, the Planning Authority, the Resource Recovery and Recycling Agency, Nature Trust, Birdlife Malta, the Funds and Programmes Division - Parliamentary Secretariat for European Funds, Archdiocese of Malta, BetPoint, the Mellieħa Local Council, the Birżebbuga Local Council, the National Literacy Agency, the Junior Chamber of Advocates, Għaqda Studenti tal-Liġi, Miss Malta, the Malta Football Association, OzoGroup, FreeHour, and No to Litter Mellieħa. An additional dive clean-up was also organised on the day thanks to the effort of the NGO Żibel.