Earlier this week, the Environment and Resources Authority announced that the separation of waste will soon become mandatory.

"As from 14 April 2023, two months after the publication of these new regulations, waste separation will be enforceable by law for everyone, including businesses, governmental and non-governmental entities as well as private homes. This means that one will no longer be allowed to dispose of organic waste in the black bag as this will now have to be put into the designated white bag. The same applies to recyclable waste such as plastic and paper and other materials which have to be separated and disposed of in the grey bag designated for recycling. Glass will no longer be allowed to be put in the black or grey bag but must instead be separated and taken out for municipal door-to-door collection by itself every first and third Friday of the month, as per existing municipal waste collection schedule."

The separation of waste is one of the most important steps for recycling. One cannot expect people to manually sort out our trash at some plant, it’s not realistic. We need to be the people to sort out our waste at source..

The country should, by now, be used to separating waste, and so in theory not many people should end up being fined.

What is good, however, is that by making this announcement early, and by also saying that during the first six months, between April and October, the authorities will be conducting an educational campaign for the public to familiarise themselves with these new regulations, will help educate people on better waste collection practices.

“Throughout this 6-month period, persons caught disposing of waste inappropriately will receive a warning. After the lapse of these six months, whoever is caught disposing of waste inadequately will be fined €75 for businesses and €25 for households. These fines will double to €150 and €50 respectively if the individual is caught repeatedly disposing of waste inappropriately."

While the fines don’t seem too high, one must keep in mind that people might make mistakes on occasion. For those who breach regulations regularly, then the higher fine should be applied. Gone are the days when everyone would just chuck everything into a black bag. That is not acceptable.

We still see instances of bags being taken out on the wrong day, although not as frequently as we used to. This could also be attributed to the recent change in collection times. But taking the wrong bag out on the wrong day could result in rubbish being left on a street for a day or more, which is unsightly. If that happens to be the organic bag, well then the risk of an animal getting to it is quite high, and would leave a mess on a pavement or street. This is not acceptable.

There are also instances of people occasionally getting confused over which bags to throw certain items in, and the educational campaign would do well to focus on this point.

Recycling should be second nature to us by now, and we should strive to make it a part of our daily lives.