Despite the never-ending campaigns in newspapers, on billboards, on radio and television, the litterbug has not been eradicated: figures collected show that there was three times as much illegally dumped material in August as there was in the same month last year.

The comparison was put into context by Infrastructure and Resources Minister Ninu Zammit yesterday who said: “This year we have spent Lm340,000 to clean up such rubbish. Just imagine what we could have done with an additional Lm340,000 to spend.” He said that Lm340,000 was equivalent to half the cost of the Mdina paving project.

Workers in the Cleansing Services Department collected over 1,600 tonnes of illegally dumped rubbish from valleys, arterial roads and industrial estates during August. This is three times the amount that was collected in August 2004.

The cost of collecting these 1,600 tonnes amounts was a hefty Lm50,000. This puts the yearly expense up to 31 August to around Lm340,000. Mr Zammit pointed out that this money could have been used in embellishment projects rather than cleansing operations. He said that tonnes of illegal dumping had been collected from Wied l-Isqof and Wied il-Hemsija in Rabat, Bingemma Valley in Mgarr, Wied Qannotta in Wardija and Wied Irmiedi in Attard.

Freephone number 8007-6608 and email ([email protected]) were introduced last year in an effort to encourage the public to report cases of illegal dumping, and during August 2005 a record of 162 such cases had been reported. However the ministry urged people to be more vigilant and to avail themselves of the reporting services.

Of the 162 cases that were reported, 82 were referred to local councils, while 42 instances had been rectified by the Cleansing Services Department on the same day and the rest had been dealt with within a week.