In Parliament last Tuesday, the minister responsible for local councils, Owen Bonnici, appealed to one and all to follow the rubbish collection schedule religiously.

When we write “one and all” we mean permanent residents, businesses, restaurants and also the many foreigners who during their short or long stay in Malta rent private properties.

Since the start of the year, changes have been made to the schedule to make it more efficient. In the past, we had different councils with different schedules, and this created some confusion. The system was altered so as to bring all councils on the same schedule and, at the same time, re-arrange it in such a way as to make it simpler to understand.

We now know – or should know – that organic waste, which generates bad odours, is collected three times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Black plastic bags, those for general waste, are collected twice a week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays, while the grey bag, for plastic, is now collected only once a week, on Thursdays.

This latter change – the once-weekly grey bag collection – coincided with the introduction of a plastic bottle return scheme, which encourages people to dispose of their unwanted items against a 10c per bottle return.  We are told that this scheme has been successful and that the great majority of businesses and residents are making use of it. What we ask for is that there should be more facilities available, and that the existing ones are emptied more regularly so as not to cause frustration to those who find the time to take their bags with bottles, only to find that they cannot do so because the machines are full up.

So, as you can see, we have a system in place and the system works reasonably well.

Yet, in spite of all this, and six months since the new schedule was introduced, we still have people – too many of them – who take out their waste on the wrong day. This means that they are not collected, and are left lying on the pavement for at least one extra day. When it is organic waste that is taken out on the wrong day, it generates bad smells (particularly in the hotter months) and could be an attraction for insects, stray animals or, worse, rats. Apart from this, it adds to the shabby look that many of our roads and streets unfortunately already have.

It does not take much to follow the schedule. And we should not need to be told by a minister that we should take out our unwanted items on the correct day. We should be able to discipline ourselves into following the law. When we speak of protecting the environment, the waste collection system plays an essential part in keeping our country clean and, most of all, allow for better control on how this waste is then disposed of.

Generally speaking, the Maltese are known to keep their homes spick and span. Unfortunately, we do not give the same deserved attention to public places. We should start doing so.