A complete soft-drinks dispenser complete with taps, sea navigational instruments, a flooded pair of binoculars, a rubber mould probably from a movie set, one water ski, and 17 tyres from Wied iz-Zurrieq alone were among the unusual items cleared from the sea during the largest seabed clean-up ever held in Malta and Gozo with the largest quantity of rubbish being removed from the sea at Exiles, Sliema.

Some 160 advanced certified divers and 157 onshore volunteers helped out on the clean-up day held last Saturday in eight localities around Malta and Gozo. Assistance was offered by many ranging from the Mellieha, St Julian’s and Marsascala Scout Groups and Girl Guides Groups from Marsascala and St Paul’s Bay to NGOs like Bicref, to the Russian Boarding School. Qawra Self Defence and Wrestling Club and British Army officers on holiday in Malta helped on shore with the lifting of heavy debris.

During the event, organised last Saturday by GreenPak, tons of material were removed from the sea and beaches. Apart from plastic and glass bottles and steel pipes, last Saturday’s GreenPak’s clean-up brought to the surface an assortment of items. These included radiator heaters, metal railings and fences, an electric fan, sea ladders, 55 gallon drums, car parts including batteries and many deck chairs and sunbeds.

A beach cave in Marsalforn in which rubbish accumulates, was cleaned up, while volunteers also went into the valley in an effort to recover litter before it would be carried down into the sea by winter storms. In St Julians, a notable amount of syringes were safely disposed of by onshore volunteers.

Skips were filled and GreenPak recycling wheelie bins were crammed to the brim. Extra bags had to be used to contain recoverable recyclable materials collected.

GreenPak thanked all participating organisations, associations, commercial entities, and volunteers for this positive initiative. An account on facebook has been set up, in which one can find loads of pictures of the event.