Many previous ministers, of both persuasions, have been kicking the can downwards for many many years. Now, it seems, we may be getting to tackle the waste problem.

We say we may be getting to tackle the problem because we have to wait and see the results of the actual implementation More about this later.

The first step is to tackle the huge plastic waste which threatens to engulf us and to render inhospitable our seas.

This glut of plastic waste is a direct result of EU accession. Carmel Cacopardo, the AD chairman, had studied the whole process of negotiations before 2004 in his doctoral thesis and he revealed the policy inconsistences as minister succeeded minister and as the social partners twisted and turned. The result was what we see today: a huge amount of plastic waste that seems unstoppable.

The decision has been taken to re-establish a returns regime: you pay an additional 10c per bottle and get this back only if you deposit the empty bottle in a special container at the supermarket.

This looks fine on paper but what about so many elderly people who do not go to supermarkets but get their needs from the corner shop? Or families with restricted space who just do not have the space to store empties?

There could have been alternatives: the technology exists that turns plastic waste into a variant of tarmac for our roads.

On a wider level we repeat that we must tackle the waste problem in a holistic manner not a pick-and-choose one. It is true that plastic waste is a prime problem but we cannot impose a foreign model on our people: people in Malta do not have the front and back gardens that other people, eg in the UK or Australia, have. They have got used to a daily waste collection and many still have not got round to adjust to a grey bag collection once or twice a week and a black bag collection on the other days.

It is true, on the other hand, that other peoples have set up and operate a waste collection system that puts our (lack of one) to shame. Thus, for instance, as regards organic waste. There are systems, technologies that eradicate the need to collect such waste.

Many who have tried to tackle the waste problem in Malta lose heart – it is enough to see how many prefer to dump the accumulated rubbish in their homes in sundry corners of the countryside when there is a perfect, and free, system operated by the local councils.

There must be a gradual increase in enforcement leading to fines and more penalties.

Malta is the country that landfills the most high percentage of its waste. For far too long we have stayed apathetic while we allowed Malta’s highest mountain, the Maghtab landfill, to grow higher. We have now reached the outer limit. If for no other reason, we must act. Fast.