There have been rumblings and undertones in everyday conversation about possible proposed changes to the waste collection scheme under which households will be given different coloured bags to separate packaging waste.

The general tone seems to be that people do not have the time and patience to do such a thing. It just gets worse and worse. Every time we seem to make a positive change in our attitudes, it lasts for a while and then regresses. Do people truly understand what a wonderful waste collection system we have in this country? The answer is probably no. Just to shed some light on the matter, let us see what is at our disposal (sic).

Most localities have a rubbish truck that comes round every morning, or afternoon, to collect the previous day’s rubbish. Other localities have skip systems whereby rubbish is disposed of there and collected once or twice a week.

We also have bring-in sites in most localities, and some have more than one for different parts of the village. Here people can dispose of metal, plastic, paper and glass with the minimum of fuss and effort, also knowing (assuming that they care) that the items will be recycled and put to good use, thus helping the environment. We are not finished listing yet – there are also the civic amenity sites where people can take any form of bulky refuse imaginable to a site that is open seven days a week. Again, this facility can be used with the minimum of fuss, simply by going to the site and getting rid of whatever needs to be disposed of.

And it must not be forgotten that we also have the Bulky Refuse Collection service, which is also provided free of charge. Just by making a simple phone call, people can get a home collection service for the disposal of mattresses, old bits of furniture and the like. The list is truly impressive.

In most other countries around Europe, people are lucky if they get their rubbish collected more than twice a week. In addition, they have to pay for the waste disposal service in specific taxes. Moreover, they have to separate their rubbish and put different types in different bins, on different days – and remember, they are paying for this.

Waste collection is a headache. It is fine to look at Maghtab mountain and say “everything is fine now, we are rehabilitating it”. But it begs the question: how many people have seen what goes on at Maghtab and Ghallis? Do people know what landfilling means – the costs it carries with it, both materially and environmentally? No, they do not.

It is an expensive operation and the least that the public can be expected to do is to try and make matters easier. Is it really that much of a hardship to separate plastic from card and paper? And again, we should remember that we are getting this service for free. As always, people want their cake and they want to eat it too.

It would be far easier for the government to simply wash its hands of waste management and hand over every aspect to the private sector. And we are quite sure that if that were to be the case, people would not only have to separate their waste, they would have to pay for its disposal.

The EU derogation on packaging waste on non-

alcoholic drinks will soon expire and that is sure to increase the amount of rubbish that will be hitting landfills. Something must be done and the general public has its own part to play too.