While I believe that the eco-tax was a step in the right direction, I feel that the elimination of plastic bags has not been fully thought through.

Most people re-cycle these plastic bags for the disposal of their daily household refuse. Now that they are no longer to be available for this purpose, another container must be used. This is going to involve the refuse collectors having to empty a bin and return it, hopefully without spilling half of it on our roads. This is obviously much more time consuming, and therefore costly.

The other practical solution is going to be the use of a ‘wheelie bin’ in which containers can be emptied, and periodically emptied into the refuse truck. This will involve a mechanism for lifting and emptying the ‘wheelie bin’. However, as far as I know, existing refuse trucks are not equipped with this mechanism.

A third alternative will be the supply of bio-degradable rubbish bags by local councils. If this system is put into force, the collector will deliver one bag for each one taken away. This will only involve one visit to each household instead of two, which is the case should private containers which will have to be returned, are used.

Victor Spiteri

Attard